£i\>r<xvy  of CKe  't:heolo0ical  ^cminwy 

PRINCETON    •    NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Mrs.    Juston  Dixon 

B349I 

5! 


THE  EPISTLES  OF  ST.  PAUL 

TO 

THE     COLOSSIANS 

AND 

PHILEMON. 


ALEXANDER    MACLAREN,    D.D. 


NEW  YORK 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON, 

714,  BROADWAY. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE    COLOSSIANS, 

Chap.  I. — ^v.   I,  2.  The  Writer  and  the  Readers        •        •      I 
V.     3-8.  The  Prelude  •        .        •        •        ,21 

V,  9-12.  The  Prayer  .•••••    38 
V.  12-14.  The  Father's  Gifts  through  the  Son      ,    54 
V,  15-18.  The  Glory  of  the  Son  in  His  Relation 
to  the  Father,  the  Universe,  and  the 

Church 70 

V.  19-22.  The  Reconciling  Son    «        .        •        .85 
V.22, 23.  The  Ultimate  Purpose  of  Reconcilia- 
tion and  its  Human  Conditions         .  100 
V.  24-27.  Joy  in  Suffering,  and  Triumph  in  the 

Manifested  Mystery  ,        ,        ,        ,116 
▼^28,29.  The  Christian  Ministry  in  its  Theme, 

Methods,  and  Aim    •        •       •        .132 

Chap.  n. — V.     1-3.  Paul's  Striving  for  the  Colossians        .151 
V.     4-7.  Conciliatory  and  Hortatory  Transition 

to  Polemics      •       •       •       •       •168 


CONTENTS. 


Chap.     11. — V.    8-IO.  The  Bane  and  the  Antidote         •  185 

V.  11-13.  The  True  Circumcision         .         •        .  199 
V.  14,  15.  The  Cross  the  Death  of  Law  and  the 

Triumph  over  Evil  Pow^ers       .  213 

V.  16-19.  Warnings  against  Twin  Chief  Errors 
based  upon  Previous  Positive  Teach- 
ing   .        .  ....  226 

V  20-23.  Two  Final  Tests  of  the  False  Teaching  242 

Chap.  III. — ^v.      1-4.  The  Present  Christian  Life  a  Risen 

Life 257 

V.      5-9.  Slaying  Self  the  Foundation  Precept  of 

Practical  Christianity        ,        ,  271 

V.    9-1 1.  The  New  Nature  wrought  out  in  New 

Life 290 

V.  12-14.  The  Garments  of  the  Renewed  Soul  .  305 

V.  15-17.  The  Practical  Effects  of  the  Peace  of 
Christ,  the  Word  of  Christ,  and  the 
Name  of  Christ         ....  320 

V.  18,  Ch.  iv.,  I.  The  Christian  Family       •        ,  335 

Chap.  IV. — ^v.      2-6.  Precepts  for  the  Innermost  and  Outer- 
most Life 354 

V.  7-9.  Tychicus  and  Onesimus,  the  Letter- 
Bearers     371 

V.  10-14.  Salutations  from  the  Prisoner's  Friends  386 
V.  15-18.  Closing  Messages         •        •        •        •  402 


CONTENTS. 


THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

PAGE 

Chap.  I.— V.      1-3 417 

V.      4-7  •••••••  432 

V.    8-11 447 

V.  12-14 459 

V.  15-19 470 

V.  20-25 •       .  4B3 


THE   WRITER  AND    THE  READERS, 

"  Paul,  an  Apostle  of  Christ  Jesus  through  the  will  of  God,  and 
Timothy  our  brother,  to  the  saints  and  faithful  brethren  in  Christ 
which  are  at  Colossse  :  Grace  to  you  and  peace  from  God  our  Father." 
—Col.  i.  i,  2  (Rev.  Ver.). 

WE  may  say  that  each  of  Paul's  greater  epistles 
has  in  it  one  salient  thought.  In  that  to 
the  Romans,  it  is  Justification  by  faith  ;  in  Ephe- 
sians,  it  is  the  mystical  union  of  Christ  and  His 
Church  ;  in  Philippians,  it  is  the  joy  of  Christian 
progress  ;  in  this  epistle,  it  is  the  dignity  and  sole 
sufficiency  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Mediator  and  Head 
of  all  creation  and  of  the  Church. 

Such  a  thought  is  emphatically  a  lesson  for  the 
day. 

The  Christ  whom  the  world  needs  to  have  pro- 
claimed in  every  deaf  ear  and  lifted  up  before 
blind  and  reluctant  eyes,  is  not  merely  the  perfect 
man,  nor  only  the  meek  sufferer,  but  the  Source  of 
creation  and  its  Lord,  Who  from  the  beginning  has 
been  the  life  of  all  that  has  lived,  and  before  the 
beginning  was  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father.  The 
shallow  and  starved  religion  which  contents  itself 
with  mere  humanitarian  conceptions  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  needs  to  be  deepened  and  filled  out  by 
these  lofty  truths  before  it  can  acquire  solidity  and 
steadfastness  sufficient  to  be  the  unmoved  foundation 

I 


2  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 

of  sinful  and  mortal  lives.     The  evangelistic  teach- 
ing  which   concentrates  exclusive   attention  on    the 
cross   as  "  the    work  of  Christ,"  needs  to   be  led  to 
the  contemplation  of  them,  in  order  to  understand 
the    cross,   and  to  have  its   mystery   as  well  as    its 
meaning    declared.      This  letter    itself   dwells    upon 
two  applications  of  its  principles  to  two  classes  of 
error  which,  in  somewhat  changed  forms,  exist  now 
as  then — the  error   of  the  ceremonialist,   to  whom 
religion  was  mainly  a  matter  of  ritual,  and  the  error 
of  the  speculative  thinker,  to  whom  the  universe  was 
filled  with  forces  which  left  no  room  for  the  work- 
ing  of  a  personal   Will.     The   vision  of  the  living 
Christ  Who  fills  all  things,  is  held  up  before  each  of 
these  two,  as  the  antidote  to  his  poison  ;  and  that 
same    vision    must    be    made    clear    to-day    to    the 
modern   representatives  of  these  ancient  errors.      If 
we  are   able   to    grasp    with    heart    and    mind    the 
principles  of  this  epistle  for  ourselves,  we  shall  stand 
at  the  centre  of  things,  seeing  order  where  from  any 
other  position  confusion  only  is  apparent,  and  being 
at  the  point  of  rest  instead  of  being  hurried  along 
by  the  wild  whirl  of  conflicting  opinions. 

I  desire,  therefore,  to  present  the  teachings  of  this 
great  epistle  in  a  series  of  expositions. 

Before  advancing  to  the  consideration  of  these 
verses,  we  must  deal  with  one  or  two  introductory 
matters,  so  as  to  get  the  frame  and  the  background 
for  the  picture. 

(i)  First,  as  to  the  Church  of  Colossae  to  which 
the  letter  is  addressed. 

Perhaps  too  much  has  been  made  of  late  years  of 
geographical  and  topographical  elucidations  of  Paul's 
epistles.     A  knowledge    of   the    place  to    which   a 


Col.  i.  I,  2.]     rilE    WRITER  AND    THE  READERS.  3 

letter  was  sent  cannot  do  much  to  help  in  under- 
standing the  letter,  for  local  circumstances  leave 
very  faint  traces,  if  any,  on  the  Apostle's  writings. 
Here  and  there  an  allusion  may  be  detected,  or  a 
metaphor  may  gain  in  point  by  such  knowledge  ; 
but,  for  the  most  part,  local  colouring  is  entirely 
absent.  Some  slight  indication,  however,  of  the 
situation  and  circumstances  of  the  Colossian  Church 
may  help  to  give  vividness  to  our  conceptions  of  the 
little  community  to  whom  this  rich  treasure  of  truth 
was  first  entrusted. 

Colossas  was  a  town  in  the  heart  of  the  modern 
Asia  Minor,  much  decayed  in  Paul's  time  from  its 
earlier  importance.  It  lay  in  a  valley  of  Phrygia, 
on  the  banks  of  a  small  stream,  the  Lycus,  down 
the  course  of  which,  at  a  distance  of  some  ten  miles 
or  so,  two  very  much  more  important  cities  fronted 
each  other,  Hierapolis  on  the  north,  and  Laodicea 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  river.  In  all  three  cities 
were  Christian  Churches,  as  we  know  from  this 
letter,  one  of  which  has  attained  the  bad  eminence 
of  having  become  the  type  of  tepid  religion  for  all 
the  world.  How  strange  to  think  of  the  tiny 
community  in  a  remote  valley  of  Asia  Minor, 
eighteen  centuries  since,  thus  gibbeted  for  ever ! 
These  stray  beams  of  light  which  fall  upon  the 
people  in  the  New  Testament,  showing  them  fixed  for 
ev^er  in  one  attitude,  like  a  lightning  flash  in  the  dark- 
ness, are  solemn  precursors  of  the  last  Apocalypse, 
when  all  men  shall  be  revealed  in  "  the  brightness 
of  His  coming." 

Paul  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  founder  of 
these  Churches,  or  ever  to  have  visited  them  at  the 
date  of  this  letter.     That  opinion  is  based  on  several 


4  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

of  its  characteristics,  such,  for  instance,  as  the 
absence  of  any  of  those  kindly  greetings  to  in- 
dividuals which  in  the  Apostle's  other  letters  are  so 
abundant,  and  reveal  at  once  the  warmth  and  the 
delicacy  of  his  affection  :  and  the  allusions  which 
occur  more  than  once  to  his  having  only  ^^  heard"  of 
their  faith  and  love,  and  is  strongly  supported  by  the 
expression  in  the  second  chapter  where  he  speaks 
of  the  conflict  in  spirit  which  he  had  for  "  you,  and 
for  them  at  Laodicea,  and  for  as  many  as  have  not 
seen  my  face  in  the  flesh."  Probably  the  teacher 
who  planted  the  gospel  in  Colossae  was  that 
Epaphras,  whose  visit  to  Rome  occasioned  the 
letter,  and  who  is  referred  to  in  verse  7  of  this 
chapter  in  terms  which  seem  to  suggest  that  he  had 
first  made  known  to  them  the  fruit-producing  "  word 
of  the  truth  of  the  gospel." 

(2)  Note  the  occasion  and  subject  of  the  letter. 
Paul  is  a  prisoner,  in  a  certain  sense,  in  Rome  ; 
but  the  word  prisoner  conveys  a  false  impression  of 
the  amount  of  restriction  of  personal  liberty  to 
which  he  was  subjected.  We  know  from  the  last 
words  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  that  his  "  imprisonment " 
did  not  in  the  least  interfere  with  his  liberty  of 
preaching,  nor  with  his  intercourse  with  friends. 
Rather,  in  the  view  of  the  facilities  it  gave  that  by 
him  "  the  preaching  might  be  fully  known,"  it  may 
be  regarded,  as  indeed  the  writer  of  the  Acts  seems 
to  regard  it,  as  the  very  climax  and  topstone  of 
Paul's  work,  wherewith  his  history  may  fitly  end, 
leaving  the  champion  of  the  gospel  at  the  very  heart 
of  the  world,  with  unhindered  liberty  to  proclaim 
his  message  by  the  very  throne  of  Caesar.      He  was 


Col.  i.  I,  2.]      THE    WRITER  AND  THE  READERS,  I 

sheltered  rather  than  confined  beneath  the  wing  of 
the  imperial  eagle.  His  imprisonment,  as  we  call  it, 
was,  at  all  events  at  first,  detention  in  Rome  under 
military  supervision  rather  than  incarceration.  So 
to  his  lodgings  in  Rome  there  comes  a  brother  from 
this  decaying  little  town  in  the  far-off  valley  of  the 
Lycus,  Epaphras  by  name.  Whether  his  errand  was 
exclusively  to  consult  Paul  about  the  state  of  the 
Colossian  Church,  or  whether  some  other  business 
also  had  brought  him  to  Rome,  we  do  not  know  ;  at 
all  events,  he  comes  and  brings  with  him  bad  news, 
which  burdens  Paul's  heart  with  solicitude  for  the 
little  community,  which  had  no  remembrances  of  his 
own  authoritative  teaching  to  fall  back  upon.  Many 
a  night  would  he  and  Epaphras  spend  in  deep  con- 
verse on  the  matter,  with  the  stolid  Roman  legionary, 
to  whom  Paul  was  chained,  sitting  wearily  by,  while 
they  two  eagerly  talked. 

The  tidings  were  that  a  strange  disease,  hatched 
in  that  hotbed  of  religious  fancies,  the  dreamy  East, 
was  threatening  the  faith  of  the  Colossian  Christians. 
A  peculiar  form  of  heresy,  singularly  compounded 
of  Jewish  ritualism  and  Oriental  mysticism — two 
elements  as  hard  to  blend  in  the  foundation  of  a 
system  as  the  heterogeneous  iron  and  clay  on  which 
the  image  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream  stood  unstably 
— had  appeared  among  them,  and  though  at  present 
confined  to  a  few,  was  being  vigorously  preached. 
The  characteristic  Eastern  dvogma,  that  matter  is 
evil  and  the  source  of  evil,  which  underlies  so  much 
Oriental  religion,  and  crept  in  so  early  to  corrupt 
Christianity,  and  crops  up  to-day  in  so  many  strange 
places  and  unexpected  ways,  had  begun  to  infect 
them.     The  conclusion  was  quickly  drawn  :  "  Well, 


6  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS, 

then,  if  matter  be  the  source  of  all  evil,  then,  of 
course,  God  and  matter  must  be  antagonistic,"  and 
so  the  creation  and  government  of  this  material 
universe  could  not  be  supposed  to  have  come 
directly  from  Him.  The  endeavour  to  keep  the 
pure  Divinity  and  the  gross  world  as  far  apart  as 
possible,  while  yet  an  intellectual  necessity  forbad 
the  entire  breaking  of  the  bond  between  them,  led 
to  the  busy  working  of  the  imagination,  which 
spanned  the  void  gulf  between  God  Who  is  good, 
and  matter  which  is  evil,  with  a  bridge  of  cobwebs 
— a  chain  of  intermediate  beings,  emanations,  ab- 
stractions, each  approaching  more  nearly  to  the 
material  than  his  precursor,  till  at  last  the  intangible 
and  infinite  was  confined  and  curdled  into  actual 
earthly  matter,  and  the  pure  was  darkened  thereby 
into  evil. 

Such  notions,  fantastic  and  remote  from  daily  life 
as  they  look,  really  led  by  a  very  short  cut  to 
making  wild  work  with  the  plainest  moral  teachings 
both  of  the  natural  conscience  and  of  Christianity, 
For  if  matter  be  the  source  of  all  evil,  then  the 
fountain  of  each  man's  sin  is  to  be  found,  not  in  his 
own  perverted  will,  but  in  his  body,  and  the  cure  of 
it  is  to  be  reached,  not  by  faith  which  plants  a  new 
life  in  a  sinful  spirit,  but  simply  by  ascetic  mortifi- 
cation of  the  flesh. 

Strangely  united  with  these  mystical  Eastern 
teachings,  which  might  so  easily  be  perverted  to 
the  coarsest  sensuality,  and  had  their  heads  in  the 
clouds  and  their  feet  in  the  mud,  were  the  narrowest 
doctrines  of  Jewish  ritualism,  insisting  on  circumcision, 
laws  regulating  food,  the  observance  of  feast  days, 
and   the   whole  cumbrons  apparatus  of  a  ceremonial 


Col.  i.  I,  2.]     THE    WRITER  AND    THE  READERS.  7 

religion.  It  is  a  monstrous  combination,  a  cross 
between  a  Talmudical  rabbi  and  a  Buddhist  priest, 
and  yet  it  is  not  unnatural  that,  after  soaring  in 
these  lofty  regions  of  speculation  where  the  air  is  too 
thin  to  support  life,  men  should  be  glad  to  get  hold 
of  the  externals  of  an  elaborate  ritual.  It  is  not  the 
first  nor  the  last  time  that  a  misplaced  philosophical 
religion  has  got  close  to  a  religion  of  outward  ob- 
servances, to  keep  it  from  shivering  itself  to  death. 
Extremes  meet.  If  you  go  far  enough  east,  you  are 
west. 

Such,  generally  speaking,  was  the  error  that  was 
beginning  to  lift  its  head  in  Colossae.  Religious 
fanaticism  was  at  home  in  that  country,  from  which, 
both  in  heathen  and  in  Christian  times,  wild  rites 
and  notions  emanated,  and  the  Apostle  might  well 
dread  the  effect  of  this  new  teaching,  as  of  a  spark 
on  hay,  on  the  excitable  natures  of  the  Colossian 
converts. 

Now  we  may  say,  "  What  does  all  this  matter  to 
us  }  We  are  in  no  danger  of  being  haunted  by  the 
ghosts  of  these  dead  heresies."  But  the  truth  which 
Paul  opposed  to  them  is  all  important  for  every  age. 
It  was  simply  the  Person  of  Christ  as  the  only  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine,  the  link  between  God  and 
the  universe,  its  Creator  and  Preserver,  the  Light  and 
Life  of  men,  the  Lord  and  Inspirer  of  the  Church, 
Christ  has  come,  laying  His  hand  upon  both  God  and 
man,  therefore  there  is  no  need  nor  place  for  a  misty 
crowd  of  angelic  beings  or  shadowy  abstractions  to 
bridge  the  gulf  across  which  His  incarnation  flings 
its  single  solid  arch.  Christ  has  been  bone  of  our 
bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh,  therefore  that  cannot  be 
the  source  of  evil  in  which  the  fulness  of  the  God- 


8  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   CO  LOSS/A  iVS. 

head  has  dwelt  as  in  a  shrine.  Christ  has  come,  the 
fountain  of  Hfe  and  holiness,  therefore  there  is  no 
more  place  for  ascetic  mortifications  on  the  one  hand, 
nor  for  Jewish  scrupulosities  on  the  other.  These 
things  might  detract  from  the  completeness  of  faith 
in  the  complete  redemption  which  Christ  has  wrought, 
and  must  becloud  the  truth  that  simple  faith  in  it  is 
all  which  a  man  needs. 

To  urge  these  and  the  like  truths  this  letter  is 
written.  Its  central  principle  is  the  sovereign  and 
exclusive  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  God-man, 
the  victorious  antagonist  of  these  dead  speculations, 
and  the  destined  conqueror  of  all  the  doubts  and  con- 
fusions of  this  day.  If  we  ^rasp  with  mind  and 
heart  that  truth,  we  can  possess  our  souls  in  patience, 
and  in  its  light  see  light  where  else  is  darkness  and 
uncertainty. 

So  much  then  for  introduction,  and  now  a  few 
words  of  comment  on  the  superscription  of  the  letter 
contained  in  these  verses. 

I.  Notice  the  blending  of  lowliness  and  authority 
in  Paul's  designation  of  himself.  '*  An  Apostle  of 
Christ  Jesus  through  the  will  of  God." 

He  does  not  always  bring  his  apostolic  authority 
to  mind  at  the  beginning  of  his  letters.  In  his 
earliest  epistles,  those  to  the  Thessalonians,  he  has 
not  yet  adopted  the  practice.  In  the  loving  and 
joyous  letter  to  the  Philippians,  he  has  no  need  to 
urge  his  authority,  for  no  man  among  them  ever 
gainsaid  it.  In  that  to  Philemon,  friendship  is  upper- 
most, and  though,  as  he  says,  he  might  be  much  bold 
to  enjoin,  yet  he  prefers  to  beseech,  and  will  not 
command  as  "  Apostle,"  but  pleads  as  "  the  prisoner 


Col.  i.  I,  2.]     THE    WRITER  AND    THE  READERS.  9 

of  Christ  Jesus.'*  In  his  other  letters  he  put  hi? 
authority  in  the  foreground  as  here,  and  it  may  be 
noticed  that  it  and  its  basis  in  the  will  of  God  are 
asserted  with  greatest  emphasis  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  where  he  has  to  deal  with  more  defiant 
opposition  than  elsewhere  encountered  him. 

Here  he  puts  forth  his  claim  to  the  apostolate, 
in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word.  He  asserts  his 
equality  with  the  original  Apostles,  the  chosen  wit- 
nesses for  the  reality  of  Christ's  resurrection.  He, 
too,  had  seen  the  risen  Lord,  and  heard  the  words  of 
His  mouth.  He  shared  with  them  the  prerogative 
of  certifying  from  personal  experience  that  Jesus 
is  risen  and  lives  to  bless  and  rule.  Paul's  whole 
Christianity  was  built  on  the  belief  that  Jesus  Christ 
had  actually  appeared  to  him.  That  vision  on  the 
road  to  Damascus  revolutionised  his  life.  Because 
he  had  seen  his  Lord  and  heard  his  duty  from  His 
lips,  he  had  become  what  he  was. 

"Through  the  will  of  God"  is  at  once  an  assertion 
of  Divine  authority,  a  declaration  of  independence 
of  all  human  teaching  or  appointment,  and  a  most 
lowly  disclaimer  of  individual  merit,  or  personal 
power.  Few  religious  teachers  have  had  so  strongly 
marked  a  character  as  Paul,  or  have  so  constantly 
brought  their  own  experience  into  prominence  ;  but 
the  weight  which  he  expected  to  be  attached  to  his 
words  was  to  be  due  entirely  to  their  being  the 
words  which  God  spoke  through  him.  If  this  open- 
ing clause  were  to  be  paraphrased  it  would  be :  I 
speak  to  you  because  God  has  sent  me.  I  am  not 
an  Apostle  by  my  own  will,  nor  by  my  own  merit. 
I  am  not  worthy  to  be  called  an  Apostle.  I  am  a 
poor  sinner  like  yourselves,  and  it  is  a  miracle  of  love 


lo  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSS/ANS. 

r.tid  mercy  that  God  should  put  His  words  into  such 
]ips.  But  He  does  speak  through  me  ;  my  words 
.'  re  neither  mine  nor  learned  from  any  other  man, 
but  His.  Never  mind  the  cracked  pipe  through 
w  hich  the  Divine  breath  makes  music,  but  listen  to 
the  music. 

So  Paul  thought  of  his  message  ;  so  the  uncom- 
promising assertion  of  authority  was  united  with  deep 
humility.  Do  we  come  to  his  words,  believing  that 
v.e  hear  God  speaking  through  Paul  }  Here  is  no 
formal  doctrine  of  inspiration,  but  here  is  the  claim 
lo  be  the  organ  of  the  Divine  will  and  mind,  to  which 
we  ought  to  listen  as  indeed  the  voice  of  God. 

The  gracious  humility  of  the  man  is  further  seen 
in  his  association  with  himself,  as  joint  senders  of 
the  letter,  of  his  young  brother  Timothy,  who  has 
no  apostolic  authority,  but  whose  concurrence  in  its 
teaching  might  give  it  some  additional  weight.  For 
the  first  few  verses  he  remembers  to  speak  in  the 
plural,  as  in  the  name  of  both — "  we  give  thanks," 
"  Epaphras  declared  to  us  your  love,"  and  so  on  ; 
but  in  the  fiery  sweep  of  his  thoughts  Timothy  is 
Foon  left  out  of  sight,  and  Paul  alone  pours  out  the 
wealth  of  his  Divine  wisdom  and  the  warmth  of  his 
fervid  heart. 

n.  We  may  observe  the  noble  ideal  of  the  Chris- 
tian character  set  forth  in  the  designations  of  the 
Co!ossian  Church,  as  "  saints  and  faithful  brethren  in 
Christ." 

In  his  earlier  letters  Paul  addresses  himself  to 
''  the  Church ; "  in  his  later,  beginning  with  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  including  the  three  great 
epistles  from  his  captivity,  namely,  Ephcsians,  Philip- 
pians,  and  Colossians,  he  drops  the  word  Church,  and 


Col.  L  1,2.]     THE    WRITER  AND   THE  READERS.  ii 

uses  expressions  which  regard  the  individuals  com- 
posing the  community  rather  than  the  community 
which  they  compose.  The  slight  change  thus  in- 
dicated in  the  Apostle's  point  of  view  is  interesting, 
however  it  may  be  accounted  for.  There  is  no  reason 
to  suppose  it  done  of  set  purpose,  and  certainly  it 
did  not  arise  from  any  lowered  estimate  of  the  sacred- 
ness  of  "  the  Church,"  which  is  nowhere  put  on  higher 
ground  than  in  the  letter  to  Ephesus,  which  belongs 
to  the  later  period  ;  but  it  may  be  that  advancing 
years  and  familiarity  with  his  work,  with  his  position 
of  authority,  and  with  his  auditors,  all  tended  to  draw 
him  closer  to  them,  and  insensibly  led  to  the  disuse 
of  the  more  formal  and  official  address  to  "  the 
Church"  in  favour  of  the  simpler  and  more  affectionate 
superscription,  to  "  the  brethren." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  lessons  to  be  drawn  from  the 
names  here  given  to  the  members  of  the  Church  are 
the  more  important  matter  for  us.  It  would  be  in- 
teresting and  profitable  to  examine  the  meaning  of 
all  the  New  Testam.ent  names  for  believers,  and  to 
learn  the  lessons  which  they  teach  ;  but  we  must  for 
the  present  confine  ourselves  to  those  which  occur 
here. 

"  Saints  " — a  word  that  has  been  wofully  misapplied 
both  by  the  Church  and  the  world.  The  former  has 
given  it  as  a  special  honour  to  a  few,  and  "decorated" 
with  it  mainly  the  possessors  of  a  false  ideal  of 
sanctity — that  of  the  ascetic  and  monastic  sort.  The 
latter  uses  it  with  a  sarcastic  intonation,  as  if  it  im- 
plied much  cry  and  little  v/ool,  loud  professions  and 
small  performance,  not  without  a  touch  of  hypocrisy 
and  crafty  self-seeking. 

Saints   are   not   people   living  in  cloisters  after  a 


12  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 

fantastic  ideal,  but  men  and  women  immersed  in  the 
vulgar  work  of  every-day  life  and  worried  by  the 
small  prosaic  anxieties  which  fret  us  all,  who  amidst 
the  whirr  of  the  spindle  in  the  mill,  and  the  clink  of 
the  scales  on  the  counter,  and  the  hubbub  of  the 
market-place  and  the  jangle  of  the  courts,  are  yet 
living  Uves  of  conscious  devotion  to  God.  The  root 
idea  of  the  word,  which  is  an  Old  Testament  word, 
is  not  moral  purity,  but  separation  to  God.  The 
holy  things  of  the  old  covenant  were  things  set 
apart  from  ordinary  use  for  His  service.  So,  on 
the  high  priest's  mitre  was  written  Holiness  to  the 
Lord.  So  the  Sabbath  was  kept  "holy,"  because 
set  apart  from  the  week  in  obedience  to  Divine 
command. 

Sanctity,  and  saiiity  are  used  now  mainly  with  the 
idea  of  moral  purity,  but  that  is  a  secondary  mean- 
ing. The  real  primary  signification  is  separation  to 
God.  Consecration  to  Him  is  the  root  from  which 
the  white  flower  of  purity  springs  most  surely.  There 
is  a  deep  lesson  in  the  word  as  to  the  true  method 
of  attaining  cleanness  of  Hfe  and  spirit.  We  cannot 
make  ourselves  pure,  but  we  can  yield  ourselves  to 
God  and  the  purity  will  come. 

But  we  have  not  only  here  the  fundamental  idea 
of  holiness,  and  the  connection  of  purity  of  character 
with  self-consecration  to  God,  but  also  the  solemn 
obligation  on  all  so-called  Christians  thus  to  separate 
and  devote  themselves  to  Him.  We  are  Christians 
as  far  as  we  give  ourselves  up  to  God,  in  the  sur- 
render of  our  wills  and  the  practical  obedience  of 
our  lives — so  far  and  not  one  inch  further.  We 
are  not  merely  bound  to  this  consecration  if  we  are 
Christians,  but  we  are  not  Christians  unless  we  thus 


Col.  i.  I,  2.]     THE    WRITER  AND    THE  READERS.  13 

consecrate  ourselves.  Pleasing  self,  and  making  my 
own  will  my  law,  and  living  for  my  own  ends,  is 
destructive  of  all  Christianity.  Saints  are  not  an 
eminent  sort  of  Christians,  but  all  Christians  are 
saints,  and  he  who  is  not  a  saint  is  not  a  Christian. 
The  true  consecration  is  the  surrender  of  the  will, 
which  no  man  can  do  for  us,  which  needs  no 
outward  ceremonial,  and  the  one  motive  which  will 
lead  us  selfish  and  stubborn  men  to  bow  our  necks 
to  that  gentle  yoke,  and  to  come  out  of  the  misery 
of  pleasing  self  into  the  peace  of  serving  God,  is 
drawn  from  the  great  love  of  Him  Who  devoted 
Himself  to  God  and  man,  and  bought  us  for  His 
own  by  giving  Himself  utterly  to  be  ours.  All 
sanctity  begins  with  consecration  to  God.  All  con- 
secration rests  upon  the  faith  of  Christ's  sacrifice. 
And  if,  drawn  by  the  great  love  of  Christ  to  us 
unworthy,  we  give  ourselves  away  to  God  in  Him, 
then  He  gives  Himself  in  deep  sacred  communion 
to  us.  "  I  am  thine "  has  ever  for  its  chord  which 
completes  the  fulness  of  its  music,  "  Thou  art  mine.'' 
And  so  "saint"  is  a  name  of  dignity  and  honour, 
as  well  as  a  stringent  requirement.  There  is  im- 
plied in  it,  too,  safety  from  all  that  would  threaten 
life  or  union  with  Him.  He  will  not  hold  His 
possessions  with  a  slack  hand  that  negligently  lets 
them  drop,  or  with  a  feeble  hand  that  cannot  keep 
them  from  a  foe.  "  Thou  wilt  not  suffer  him  wh3 
is  consecrated  to  Thee  to  see  corruption."  If  I 
belong  to  God,  having  given  myself  to  Him,  then 
I  am  safe  from  the  touch  of  evil  and  the  taint  of 
decay.  "  The  Lord's  portion  is  His  people,"  and 
He  will  not  lose  even  so  worthless  a  part  of  that 
portion  as  I  am.     The  great  name  "  saints  "  carries 


14  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE   CO  LOSS  I  A  NS. 

with  it  the  prophecy  of  victory  over  all  evil,  and 
the  assurance  that  nothing  can  separate  us  from 
the   love  of  God,  or  pluck   us  from   His  hand. 

But  these  Colossian  Christians  are  "  faithful "  as 
well  as  saints.  That  may  either  mean  trustworthy 
and  trtie  to  their  stewardship,  or  tr listing.  In  the 
parallel  verses  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians 
(which  presents  so  many  resemblances  to  this 
epistle)  the  latter  meaning  seems  to  be  required, 
and  here  it  is  certainly  the  more  natural,  as  point- 
ing to  the  very  foundation  of  all  Christian  consecra- 
tion and  brotherhood  in  the  act  of  believing.  We 
are  united  to  Christ  by  our  faith.  The  Church  is  a 
family  of  faithful,  that  is  to  say  of  believing,  men. 
Faith  underlies  consecration  and  is  the  parent  of 
holiness,  for  he  only  will  yield  himself  to  God  who 
trustfully  grasps  the  mercies  of  God  and  rests  on 
Christ's  great  gift  of  Himself.  Faith  weaves  the 
bond  that  unites  men  in  the  brotherhood  of  the 
Church,  for  it  brings  ail  who  share  it  into  a  common 
relation  to  the  Father.  He  who  is  faithful,  that  is, 
believing,  will  be  faithful  in  the  sense  of  being 
worthy  of  confidence  and  true  to  his  duty,  his 
profession,  and  his  Lord. 

They  were  brethren  too.  That  strong  new  bond 
of  union  among  men  the  most  unlike,  was  a  strange 
phenomenon  in  Paul's  time,  when  the  Roman  world 
was  falling  to  pieces,  and  rent  by  deep  clefts  of 
hatreds  and  jealousies  such  as  modern  society 
scarcely  knows  ;  and  men  might  well  wonder  as 
they  saw  the  slave  and  his  master  sitting  at  the 
same  table,  the  Greek  and  the  barbarian  learning 
the  same  wisdom  in  the  same  tongue,  the  Jew 
and    the    Gentile    bowing    the    knee    in    the    same 


Col.  i.  I.  2.]     THE    WRI'lER  AND   THE  READERS.  15 

worship,  and  the  hearts  of  all  fused  into  one  great 
glow  of  helpful  sympathy  and   unselfish  love. 

But  "  brethren  "  means  more  than  this.  It  points 
not  merely  to  Christian  love,  but  to  the  common 
possession  of  a  new  life.  If  we  are  brethren,  it  is 
because  we  have  one  Father,  because  in  us  all  there 
is  one  life.  The  name  is  often  regarded  as  senti- 
mental and  metaphorical.  The  obligation  of  mu- 
tual love  is  supposed  to  be  the  main  idea  in  it, 
and  there  is  a  melancholy  hollowness  and  unreality 
in  the  very  sound  of  it  as  applied  to  the  usual 
average  Christians  of  to-day.  But  the  name  leads 
straight  to  the  doctrine  of  regeneration,  and  pro- 
claims that  all  Christians  are  born  again  through 
their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  thereby  partake  of 
a  common  nev/  life,  which  makes  all  its  possessors 
children  of  the  Highest,  and  therefore  brethren  one 
of  another.  If  regarded  as  an  expression  of  the 
affection  of  Christians  for  one  another,  "  brethren  " 
is  an  exaggeration,  ludicrous  or  tragic,  as  we  view 
it  ;  but  if  we  regard  it  as  the  expression  of  the  real 
bond  which  gathers  all  believers  into  one  family,  it 
declares  the  deepest  mystery  and  mightiest  privilege 
of  the  gospel  that  "  to  as  many  as  received  Him,  to 
them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  Sons  of  God." 

They  are  "  in  Christ."  These  two  words  may 
apply  to  all  the  designations  or  to  the  last  only. 
They  are  saints  in  Him,  believers  in  Him,  brethren 
in  Him.  That  mystical  but  most  real  union  of 
Christians  with  their  Lord  is  never  far  away  from 
the  Apostle's  thoughts,  and  in  the  twin  Epistle  to 
the  Ephesians  is  the  very  burden  of  the  whole. 
A  shallower  Christianity  tries  to  weaken  that  great 
phrase   to  something  more  intelligible   to    the  un- 


I6  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

spiritual  temper  and  the  poverty-stricken  experience 
proper  to  it ;  but  no  justice  can  be  done  to  Paul's 
teaching  unless  it  be  taken  in  all  its  depth  as 
'  expressive  of  that  same  mutual  indwelling  and  in- 
terlacing of  spirit  with  spirit  which  is  so  prominent 
in  the  writings  of  the  Apostle  John.  There  is  one 
point  of  contact  between  the  Pauline  and  the 
Johannean  conceptions,  on  the  differences  between 
which  so  much  exaggeration  has  been  expended  ; 
to  both  the  inmost  essence  of  the  Christian  life  is 
union  to  Christ,  and  abiding  in  Him.  If  we  are 
Christians,  we  are  in  Him,  in  yet  profounder  sense 
than  creation  lives  and  moves  and  has  its  being  in 
God.  We  are  in  Him  as  the  earth  with  all  its 
living  things  is  in  the  atmosphere,  as  the  branch  is 
in  the  vine,  as  the  members  are  in  the  body.  We 
are  in  Him  as  inhabitants  in  a  house,  as  hearts  that 
love  in  hearts  that  love,  as  parts  in  the  whole.  If 
we  are  Christians,  He  is  in  us,  as  life  in  every  vein, 
as  the  fruit-producing  sap  and  energy  of  the  vine 
is  in  every  branch,  as  the  air  in  every  lung,  as  the 
sunlight  in  every  planet. 

This  is  the  deepest  mystery  of  the  Christian  life. 
To  be  "  in  Him  "  is  to  be  complete.  "  In  Him  " 
we  are  "  blessed  with  all  spiritual  blessings."  "  In 
Him,"  we  are  "chosen."  "In  Him,"  God  "freely 
bestows  His  grace  upon  us."  "  In  Him  "  we  "  have 
redemption  through  His  blood."  "  In  Him "  "  all 
things  in  heaven  and  earth  are  gathered."  "  In 
Him  we  have  obtained  an  inheritance."  In  Him  is 
the  better  life  of  all  who  live.  In  Him  we  have 
peace  though  the  world  be  seething  with  change 
and  storm.  In  Him  we  conquer  though  earth  and 
our  own  evil  be  all  in  arms  against  us.     If  we  live 


Col.  i.  I,  2.]     THE    WRITER  AND   THE  READERS.  17 

in  Him,  we  live  in  purity  and  joy.  If  we  die  in 
Him,  we  die  in  tranquil  trust.  If  our  gravestones 
may  truly  carry  the  sweet  old  inscription  carved  on 
so  many  a  nameless  slab  in  the  catacombs,  "  In 
Christo,"  they  will  also  bear  the  other  "  In  pace  '* 
(In  peace).  If  we  sleep  in  Him,  our  glory  is 
assured,  for  them  also  that  sleep  in  Jesus,  will  God 
bring  with  Him. 

III.  A  word  or  two  only  can  be  devoted  to  the 
last  clause  of  salutation,  the  apostolic  wish,  which 
sets  forth  the  high  ideal  to  be  desired  for  Churches 
and  individuals  :  "  Grace  be  unto  and  peace  from 
God  our  Father."  The  Authorized  Version  reads, 
"and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  but  the  Revised 
Version  follows  the  majority  of  recent  text-critics 
and  their  principal  authorities  in  omitting  these 
words,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  imported 
into  our  passage  from  the  parallel  place  in  Ephesians. 
The  omission  of  these  familiar  words  which  occur  so 
uniformly  in  the  similar  introductory  salutations  of 
Paul's  other  epistles,  is  especially  singular  here, 
where  the  main  subject  of  the  letter  is  the  office  of 
Christ  as  channel  of  all  blessings.  Perhaps  the  pre- 
vious word,  "  brethren  "  was  lingering  in  his  mind, 
and  so  instinctively  he  stopped  with  the  kindred 
word  "  Father." 

"  Grace  and  peace " — Paul's  wishes  for  those 
whom  he  loves,  and  the  blessings  which  he  expects 
every  Christian  to  possess,  blend  the  Western  and 
the  Eastern  forms  of  salutation,  and  surpass  both. 
All  that  the  Greek  meant  by  his  "  Grace,"  all  that 
the  Hebrew  meant  by  his  "  Peace,"  the  ideally 
happy  condition  which  differing  nations  have  placed 
in    different  blessings,  and  which  all  loving    words 

2 


i8  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CO  LOSS  TANS, 

have  vainly  wished  for  dear  ones,  is  secured  and 
conveyed  to  every  poor  soul  that  trusts  in  Christ. 

"  Grace  " — what  is  that  ?  The  word  means  first 
— love  in  exercise  to  those  who  are  below  the  lover, 
or  who  deserve  something  else  ;  stooping  love  that 
condescends,  and  patient  love  that  forgives.  Then 
it  means  the  gifts  which  such  love  bestows,  and 
then  it  means  the  effects  of  these  gifts  in  the  beauties 
of  character  and  conduct  developed  in  the  receivers. 
So  there  are  here  invoked,  or  we  may  call  it,  prof- 
fered and  promised,  to  every  believing  heart,  the  love 
and  gentleness  of  that  Father  whose  love  to  us  sinful 
atoms  is  a  miracle  of  lowliness  and  longsuffering  ; 
and,  next,  the  outcome  of  that  love  which  never 
visits  the  soul  emptyhanded,  in  all  varied  spiritual 
gifts,  to  strengthen  weakness,  to  enlighten  ignorance, 
to  fill  the  whole  being ;  and  as  last  result  of  all, 
every  beauty  of  mind,  heart,  and  temper  which  can 
adorn  the  character,  and  refine  a  man  into  the  like- 
ness of  God.  That  great  gift  will  come  in  con- 
tinuous bestowment  if  we  are  "  saints  in  Christ."  Of 
His  fulness  we  all  receive  and  grace  for  grace,  wave 
upon  wave  as  the  ripples  press  shoreward  and  each 
in  turn  pours  its  tribute  on  the  beach,  or  as  pulsation 
after  pulsation  makes  one  golden  beam  of  unbroken 
light,  strong  winged  enough  to  come  all  the  way 
from  the  sun,  gentle  enough  to  fall  on  the  sensitive 
eyeball  without  pain.  That  one  beam  will  decom- 
pose into  all  colours  and  brightnesses.  That  one 
"  grace "  will  part  ?nto  sevenfold  gifts  and  be  the 
life  in  us  of  whatsoever  things  are  lovely  and  of 
good  report. 

**  Peace  be  unto  you."  That  old  greeting,  the 
witness   of  a  state  of  society  when  every  stranger 


Col.  i.  I,  2.]     THE   WRITER  AND   THE  READERS.  19 

seen  across  the  desert  was  probably  an  enemy,  is 
also  a  witness  to  the  deep  unrest  of  the  heart.  It  is 
well  to  learn  the  lesson  that  peace  comes  after  grace, 
that  for  tranquillity  of  soul  we  must  go  to  God,  and 
that  He  gives  it  by  giving  us  His  love  and  its  gifts, 
of  which,  and  of  which  only,  peace  is  the  result.  If 
we  have  that  grace  for  ours,  as  we  all  may  if  we  will, 
we  shall  be  still,  because  our  desires  are  satisfied  and 
all  our  needs  met.  To  seek  is  unnecessary  when  we 
are  conscious  of  possessing.  We  may  end  our  weary 
quest,  like  the  dove  when  it  had  found  the  green  leaf, 
though  little  dry  land  may  be  seen  as  yet,  and  fold 
our  wings  and  rest  by  the  cross.  We  may  be  lapped 
in  calm  repose,  even  in  the  midst  of  toil  and  strife, 
like  John  resting  on  the  heart  of  his  Lord.  There 
must  be  first  of  all,  peace  with  God,  that  there  may 
be  peace  fro7n  God.  Then,  when  we  have  been  won 
from  our  alienation  and  enmity  by  the  power  of  the 
cross,  and  have  learned  to  know  that  God  is  our 
Lover,  Friend  and  Father,  we  shall  possess  the  peace 
of  those  whose  hearts  have  found  their  home,  the 
peace  of  spirits  no  longer  at  war  within — conscience 
and  choice  tearing  them  asunder  in  their  strife,  the 
peace  of  obedience  which  banishes  the  disturbance  of 
self-will,  the  peace  of  security  shaken  by  no  fears, 
the  peace  of  a  sure  future  across  the  brightness  of 
which  no  shadows  of  sorrow  nor  mists  of  uncertainty 
can  fall,  the  peace  of  a  heart  in  amity  with  all  man- 
kind. So  living  in  peace,  we  shall  lay  ourselves 
down  and  die  in  peace,  and  enter  into  "  that  country, 
afar  beyond  the  stars,"  where  "  grows  the  flower  of 
peace.'* 

•*Thc  Rose  that  cannot  wither,  " 
Thy  fortress  and  thy  ease." 


20  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

All  this  may  be  ours.  Paul  could  only  wish  it 
for  these  Colossians.  We  can  only  long  for  it  for 
our  dearest.  No  man  can  fulfil  his  wishes  or  turn 
them  into  actual  gifts.  Many  precious  things  we 
can  give,  but  not  peace.  But  our  brother,  Jesus 
Christ,  can  do  more  than  wish  it.  He  can  bestow 
it,  and  when  we  need  it  most.  He  stands  ever  beside 
us,  in  our  weakness  and  unrest,  with  His  strong  arm 
stretched  out  to  help,  and  on  His  calm  lips  the  old 
words — "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee,"  "  My  peace 
I  give  unto  you." 

Let  us  keep  ourselves  in  Him,  believing  in  Him 
and  yielding  ourselves  to  God  for  His  dear  sake,  and 
we  shall  find  His  grace  ever  flowing  into  our  empti- 
ness and  His  settled  "  peace  keeping  our  hearts  and 
minds  in  Christ  Jesus." 


IT. 

THE   PRELUDE. 

"We  give  t!ianl<s  to  God  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  pray- 
ing always  for  you,  having  heard  of  your  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  of  the 
love  which  ye  have  toward  all  the  saints,  because  of  the  hope  which  is 
laid  up  for  you  in  the  heavens,  whereof  ye  heard  before  in  the  word  of 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  which  is  come  unto  you  ;  even  as  it  is  also  in  all 
the  world  bearing  fruit  and  increasing,  as  it  doth  in  you  also,  since  the 
day  ye  heard  and  knew  the  grace  of  God  in  truth  ;  even  as  ye  learned 
of  Epaphras  our  beloved  fellow-servant,  who  is  a  faithful  minister  of 
Christ  on  our  behalf,  who  also  declared  to  us  your  love  in  the  Spirit." — 
Col.  i.  3-8.  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THIS  long  introductory  section  may  at  first 
sight  give  the  impression  of  confusion,  from  the 
variety  of  subjects  introduced.  But  a  little  thought 
about  it  shows  it  to  be  really  a  remarkable  specimen 
of  the  Apostle's  delicate  tact,  born  of  his  love  and 
earnestness.  Its  purpose  is  to  prepare  a  favourable 
reception  for  his  warnings  and  arguments  against 
errors  which  had  crept  in,  and  in  his  judgment  were 
threatening  to  sweep  away  the  Colossian  Christians 
from  their  allegiance  to  Christ,  and  their  faith  in  the 
gospel  as  it  had  been  originally  preached  to  them 
by  Epaphras.  That  design  explains  the  selection  of 
topics  in  these  verses,  and  their  weaving  together. 

Before  he  warns  and  rebukes,  Paul  begins  by 
giving  the  Colossians  credit  for  all  the  good  which 
he  can  find  in  them.  As  soon  as  he  opens  his  mouth, 
he  asserts  the  claims  and  authority,  the  truth  and 


22  THE  EFISTLE   TO   THE   CO  LOSS  TANS. 

power  of  the  gospel  which  he  preaches,  and  from 
which  all  this  good  in  them  had  come,  and  which 
had  proved  that  it  came  from  God  by  its  diffusive- 
ness and  fruitfulness.  He  reminds  them  of  their 
beginnings  in  the  Christian  life,  with  which  this  new 
teaching  was  utterly  inconsistent,  and  he  flings  his 
shield  over  Epaphras,  their  first  teacher,  whose  words 
were  in  danger  of  being  neglected  now  for  newer 
voices  with  other  messages. 

Thus  skilfully  and  lovingly  these  verses  touch  a 
prelude  which  naturally  prepares  for  the  theme  of 
the  epistle.  Remonstrance  and  rebuke  would  more 
often  be  effective  if  they  oftener  began  with  showing 
the  rebuker's  love,  and  with  frank  acknowledgment 
of  good  in  the  rebuked. 

I.  We  have  first  a  thankful  recognition  of  Chris- 
tian excellence  as  introductory  to  warnings  and  re- 
monstrances. 

Almost  all  Paul's  letters  begin  with  similar  expres- 
sions of  thankfulness  for  the  good  that  was  in  the 
Church  he  is  addressing.  Gentle  rain  softens  the 
ground  and  prepares  it  to  receive  the  heavier  down- 
fall which  would  else  mostly  run  off  the  hard  surface. 
The  exceptions  are,  2  Corinthians  ;  Ephesians,  which 
was  probably  a  circular  letter  ;  and  Galatians,  which 
is  too  hot  throughout  for  such  praises.  These  ex- 
pressions are  not  compliments,  or  words  of  course. 
Still  less  are  they  flattery  used  for  personal  ends. 
They  are  the  uncalculated  and  uncalculating  expres- 
sion of  affection  which  delights  to  see  white  patches 
in  the  blackest  character,  and  of  wisdom  which 
knows  that  the  nauseous  medicine  of  blame  is  most 
easily  taken  if  administered  wrapped  in  a  capsule  of 
honest  praise. 


Col.  i.  3-8.]  PRELUDE.  23 

All  persons  in  authority  over  others,  such  as 
masters,  parents,  leaders  of  any  sort,  may  be  the 
better  for  taking  the  lesson — "  provoke  not  your  " 
— inferiors,  dependents,  scholars — "  to  wrath,  lest 
they  be  discouraged  " — and  deal  out  praise  where 
you  can,  with  a  liberal  hand.  It  is  nourishing  food 
for  many  virtues,  and  a  powerful  antidote  to  many 
vices. 

This  praise  is  cast  in  the  form  of  thanksgiving  to 
God,  as  the  true  fountain  of  all  that  is  good  in  men. 
How  all  that  might  be  harmful  in  direct  praise  is 
strained  out  of  it,  when  it  becomes  gratitude  to  God  ! 
But  we  need  not  dwell  on  this,  nor  on  the  principle 
underlying  these  thanks,  namely  that  Christian  men's 
excellences  are  God's  gift,  and  that  therefore,  admira- 
tion of  the  man  should  ever  be  subordinate  to  thank- 
fulness to  God.  The  fountain,  not  the  pitcher  filled 
from  it,  should  have  the  credit  of  the  crystal  purity 
and  sparkling  coolness  of  the  water.  Nor  do  we 
need  to  do  more  than  point  to  the  inference  from 
that  phrase  "  having  heard  of  your  faith,"  an  infer- 
ence confirmed  by  other  statements  in  the  letter, 
namely,  that  the  Apostle  himself  had  never  seen  the 
Colossian  Church.  But  v/e  briefly  emphasize  the 
two  points  which  occasioned  his  thankfulness.  They 
are  the  familiar  two,  faith  and  love. 

Faith  is  sometimes  spoken  of  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  "  towards  Christ  Jesus,"  which  describes  that 
great  act  of  the  soul  by  its  direction,  as  if  it  were  a 
going  out  or  flight  of  the  man's  nature  to  the  true 
goal  of  all  active  being.  It  is  sometimes  spoken  of 
as  "  on  Christ  Jesus,"  which  describes  it  as  reposing 
on  Him  as  the  end  of  all  seeking,  and  suggests  such 
images  as  that  of  a  hand  that  leans  or  of  a  burden 


24  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

borne,  or  a  weakness  upheld  by  contact  with  Him. 
But  more  sweet  and  great  is  the  blessedness  of  faith 
considered  as  ^'- in  Him,"  as  its  abiding  place  and 
fortress-home,  in  union  with,  and  indwelling  in  whom 
the  seeking  spirit  may  fold  its  wings,  and  the  weak 
heart  may  be  strengthened  to  lift  its  burden  cheerily, 
heavy  though  it  be,  and  the  soul  may  be  full  of  tran- 
quillity and  soothed  into  a  great  calm.  Towards^  on^ 
and  in — so  manifold  are  the  phases  of  the  relation 
between  Christ  and  our  faith. 

In  all,  faith  is  the  same, — simple  confidence,  pre- 
cisely like  the  trust  which  we  put  in  one  another. 
But  how  unlike  are  the  objects  ! — broken  reeds  of 
human  nature  in  the  one  case,  and  the  firm  pillar  of  that 
Divine  power  and  tenderness  in  the  other,  and  how 
unlike,  alas  !  is  the  fervency  and  constancy  of  the 
trust  we  exercise  in  each  other  and  in  Christ ! 
"  Faith  "  covers  the  whole  ground  of  man's  relation 
to  God.  All  religion,  all  devotion,  everything  which 
binds  us  to  the  unseen  world  is  included  in  or  evolved 
from  faith.  And  mark  that  this  faith  is,  in  Paul's 
teaching,  the  foundation  of  love  to  men  and  of 
everything  else  good  and  fair.  We  may  agree  or 
disagree  with  that  thought,  but  we  can  scarcely  fail 
to  see  that  it  is  the  foundation  of  all  his  moral  teaching. 
From  that  fruitful  source  all  good  will  come.  From 
that  deep  fountain  sweet  water  will  flow,  and  all 
drawn  from  other  sources  has  a  tang  of  bitterness. 
Goodness  of  all  kinds  is  most  surely  evolved  from 
faith — and  that  faith  lacks  its  best  warrant  of  reality 
which  does  not  lead  to  whatsoever  things  are  lovely 
and  of  good  report.  Barnabas  was  a  "  good  man," 
because,  as  Luke  goes  on  to  tell  us  by  way  of  analysis 
of  the  sources  of  his  goodness,  he  was  "  full  of  the 


Col.  i.  3-8.]  PRELUDE.  25 

Holy  Ghost,"  the  author  of  all  goodness,  "  and  of 
faith  "  by  which  that  Inspirer  of  all  beauty  of  purity 
dwells  in  men's  hearts.  Faith  then  is  the  germ  of 
goodness,  not  because  of  anything  in  itself,  but  because 
by  it  we  come  under  the  influence  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  whose   breath   is   life   and   holiness. 

Therefore  we  say  to  every  one  who  is  seeking  to 
train  his  character  in  excellence,  begin  with  trusting 
Christ,  and  out  of  that  will  come  all  lustre  and  white- 
ness, all  various  beauties  of  mind  and  heart.  It  is 
hard  and  hopeless  work  to  cultivate  our  own  thorns 
into  grapes,  but  if  we  will  trust  Christ,  He  will  sow 
good  seed  in  our  field  and  "  make  it  soft  with  showers 
and  bless  the  springing  thereof." 

As  faith  is  the  foundation  of  all  virtue,  so  It  is  the 
parent  of  love,  and  as  the  former  sums  up  every  bond 
that  knits  men  to  God,  so  the  latter  includes  all  re- 
lations of  men  to  each  other,  and  is  the  whole  law 
of  human  conduct  packed  into  one  word.  But  the 
warmest  place  in  a  Christian's  heart  will  belong  to 
those  who  are  in  sympathy  with  his  deepest  self,  and 
a  true  faith  in  Christ,  like  a  true  loyalty  to  a  prince, 
will  weave  a  special  bond  between  all  fellow-subjects. 
So  the  sign,  on  the  surface  of  earthly  relations,  of  the 
deep-lying  central  fire  of  faith  to  Christ,  is  the  fruitful 
vintage  of  brotherly  love,  as  the  vineyards  bear  the 
heaviest  clusters  on  the  slopes  of  Vesuvius.  Faith  in 
Christ  and  love  to  Christians — that  is  the  Apostle's 
notion  of  a  good  man.  That  is  the  ideal  of  character 
which  we  have  to  set  before  ourselves.  Do  we  desire 
to  be  good  ?  Let  us  trust  Christ.  Do  we  profess 
to  trust  Christ  ?  Let  us  show  it  by  the  true  proof 
— our  goodness   and  especially  our  love. 

So  we  have  here  two  members  of  the  familiar  triad, 


26  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

Faith  and  Love,  and  their  sister  Hope  is  not  far  off. 
We  read  in  the  next  clause,  "because  of  the  hope 
which  is  laid  up  for  you  in  the  heavens."  The 
connection  is  not  altogether  plain.  Is  the  hope  the 
reason  for  the  Apostle's  thanksgiving,  or  the  reason 
in  some  sense  of  the  Colossians'  love  ?  As  far  as 
the  language  goes,  we  may  either  read  "We  give 
thanks  .  .  .  because  of  the  hope,"  or  "  the  love  which 
ye  have  .  .  .  because  of  the  hope."  But  the  long 
distance  which  we  have  to  go  back  for  the  connection, 
if  we  adopt  the  former  explanation,  and  other  con- 
siderations which  need  not  be  entered  on  here,  seem 
to  make  the  latter  the  preferable  construction  if  it 
yields  a  tolerable  sense.  Does  it }  Is  it  allowable 
to  say  that  the  hope  which  is  laid  up  in  heaven  is  in 
any  sense  a  reason  or  motive  for  brotherly  love  ?  I 
think  it  is. 

Observe  that  "  hope  "  here  is  best  taken  as  meaning 
not  the  emotion,  but  the  object  on  which  the  emotion 
is  fixed  ;  not  the  faculty,  but  the  thing  hoped  for  ;  or 
in  other  words,  that  it  is  objective  not  subjective  ; 
and  also  that  the  ideas  of  futurity  and  security  are 
conveyed  by  the  thought  of  this  object  of  expectation 
being  laid  up.  This  future  blessedness,  grasped  by 
our  expectant  hearts  as  assured  for  us,  does  stimulate 
and  hearten  to  all  well-doing.  Certainly  it  does  not 
supply  the  main  reason  ;  we  are  not  to  be  loving  and 
good  because  we  hope  to  win  heaven  thereby.  The 
deepest  motive  for  all  the  graces  of  Christian  character 
is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  apprehended  by 
loving  hearts.  But  it  is  quite'  legitimate  to  draw 
subordinate  motives  for  the  strenuous  pursuit  of  holi- 
ness from  the  anticipation  of  future  blessedness,  and 
it  is  quite  legitimate  to  use  that  prospect  to  reinforce 


Col.  i.  3-8.]  PRELUDE,  27 

the  higher  motives.  He  who  seeks  to  be  good  only 
for  the  sake  of  the  heaven  which  he  thinks  he  will 
get  for  his  goodness — if  there  be  any  such  a  person 
existing  anywhere  but  in  the  imaginations  of  the 
caricaturists  of  Christian  teaching — is  not  good  and 
will  not  get  his  heaven  ;  but  he  who  feeds  his  devotion 
to  Christ  and  his  earnest  cultivation  of  holiness  with 
the  animating  hope  of  an  unfading  crown  will  find 
in  it  a  mighty  power  to  intensify  and  ennoble  all  life, 
to  bear  him  up  as  on  angel's  hands  that  lift  over  all 
stones  of  stumbling,  to  diminish  sorrow  and  dull  pain, 
to  kindle  love  to  men  into  a  brighter  flame,  and  to 
purge  holiness  to  a  more  radiant  whiteness.  The 
hope  laid  up  in  heaven  is  not  the  deepest  reason  or 
motive  for  faith  and  love — but  both  are  made  more 
vivid  when  it  is  strong.  It  is  not  the  light  at  which 
their  lamps  are  lit,  but  it  is  the  odorous  oil  which 
feeds  their  flame. 

II.  The  course  of  thought  passes  on  to  a  solemn 
reminder  of  the  truth  and  worth  of  that  Gospel  which 
was  threatened  by  the  budding  heresies  of  the  Colos- 
sian  Church. 

That  is  contained  in  the  clauses  from  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  verse  to  the  end  of  the  sixth,  and  is 
introduced  with  significant  abruptness,  immediately 
after  the  commendation  of  the  Colossians'  faith. 
The  Apostle's  mind  and  heart  are  so  full  of  the 
dangers  which  he  saw  them  to  be  in,  although 
they  did  not  know  it,  that  he  cannot  refrain  from 
setting  forth  an  impressive  array  of  considerations, 
each  of  which  should  make  them  hold  to  the  gospel 
with  an  iron  grasp.  They  are  put  with  the  utmost 
compression.  Each  word  almost  might  be  beaten 
out    into    a    long   discourse,    so    that  we  can  only 


28  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS, 

indicate  the  lines  of  thought.  This  somewhat 
tangled  skein  may,  on  the  whole,  be  taken  as  the 
answer  to  the  question,  Why  should  we  cleave  to 
Paul's  gospel,  and  dread  and  war  against  tendencies 
of  opinion  that  would  rob  us  of  it  ?  They  are 
preliminary  considerations  adapted  to  prepare  the 
way  for  a  patient  and  thoughtful  reception  of  the 
arguments  which  are  to  follow,  by .  showing  how 
much  is  at  stake,  and  how  the  readers  would  be  poor 
indeed  if  they  were  robbed  of  that  great  Word. 

He  begins  by  reminding  them  that  to  that 
gospel  they  owed  all  their  knoivledge  and  hope  of 
heaven — the  hope  "  whereof  ye  heard  before  in  the 
word  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel."  That  great  word 
alone  gives  light  on  the  darkness.  The  sole  cer- 
tainty of  a  life  beyond  the  grave  is  built  on  the 
Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  sole  hope  of  a 
blessed  life  beyond  the  grave  for  the  poor  soul  that 
has  learned  its  sinfulness  is  built  on  the  Death  of 
Christ.  Without  this  light,  that  land  is  a  land  of 
darkness,  lighted  only  by  glimmering  sparks  of 
conjectures  and  peradventures.  So  it  is  to-day,  as 
it  was  then  ;  the  centuries  have  only  made  more 
clear  the  entire  dependence  of  the  living  conviction 
of  immortality  on  the  acceptance  of  Paul's  gospel, 
**  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  that  He  was  raised  again  the  third 
day."  All  around  us,  we  see  those  who  reject  the 
fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  finding  themselves  forced 
to  surrender  their  faith  in  any  life  beyond.  They 
cannot  sustain  themselves  on  that  height  of  con- 
viction, unless  they  lean  on  Christ.  The  black 
mountain  wall  that  rings  us  poor  mortals  round 
about  is   cloven   in  one  place  only.     Through  one 


Col.  i.  3-8.]  PREL  UDE.  29 

narrow  cleft  there  comes  a  gleam  of  light.  There 
and  there  only  is  the  frowning  barrier  passable. 
Through  that  grim  canon,  narrow  and  black,  where 
there  is  only  room  for  the  dark  river  to  run,  bright- 
eyed  Hope  may  travel,  letting  our  her  golden  thread 
as  she  goes,  to  guide  us.  Christ  has  cloven  the 
rock,  "  the  Breaker  has  gone  up  before  "  us,  and  by 
His  resurrection  alone  we  have  the  knowledge  which 
is  certitude,  and  the  hope  which  is  confidence,  of  an 
inheritance  in  light.  If  Paul's  gospel  goes,  that 
goes  like  morning  mist.  Before  you  throw  away 
the  "  word  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,"  at  all  events 
understand  that  you  fling  away  all  assurance  of  a 
future  life  along  with  it. 

Then,  there  is  another  motive  touched  in  these 
words  just  quoted.  The  gospel  is  a  word  of  which 
the  whole  substance  and  content  is  truth.  You  may 
say  that  is  the  whole  question,  whether  the  gospel  is 
such  a  word  t  Of  course  it  is  ;  but  observe  how 
here,  at  the  very  outset,  the  gospel  is  represented  as 
having  a  distinct  dogmatic  element  in  it.  It  is  of 
value,  not  because  it  feeds  sentiment  or  regulates 
conduct  only,  but  first  and  foremost  because  it  gives 
us  true  though  incomplete  knowledge  concerning  all 
the  deepest  things  of  God  and  man  about  which, 
bvit  for  its  light,  we  know  nothing.  That  truthful 
word  is  opposed  to  the  argumentations  and  specula- 
tions and  errors  of  the  heretics.  The  gospel  is  not 
speculation  but  fact.  It  is  truth,  because  it  is  the 
record  of  a  Person  who  is  the  Truth.  The  history 
of  His  life  and  death  is  the  one  source  of  all 
certainty  and  knowledge  with  regard  to  man's 
relations  to  God,  and  God's  loving  purposes  to  man. 
Tc  leave  it  and  Him  of  whom  it  speaks  in  order 


30  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLO  SSI ANS. 

to  listen  to  men  who  spin  theories  out  of  their  own 
brains  is  to  prefer  will-o'-the- wisps  to  the  sun.  If 
we  listen  to  Christ,  we  have  the  truth  ;  if  we  turn 
from  Him,  our  ears  are  stunned  by  a  Babel.  "  To 
whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life." 

P'urther,  this  gospel  had  been  already  received  by 
them.  Ye  heard  before^  says  he,  and  again  he  speaks 
of  the  gospel  as  "  come  unto  "  them,  and  reminds 
them  of  the  past  days  in  which  they  "  heard  and 
knew  the  grace  of  God."  That  appeal  is,  of  course, 
no  argument  except  to  a  man  who  admits  the  truth 
of  what  he  had  already  received,  nor  is  it  meant  for 
argument  with  others,  but  it  is  equivalent  to  the 
exhortation,  "  You  have  heard  that  word  and  accepted 
it,  see  that  your  future  be  consistent  with  your  past." 
He  would  have  the  life  a  harmonious  whole,  all  in 
accordance  with  the  first  glad  grasp  which  they  had 
laid  on  the  truth.  Sweet  and  calm  and  noble  is  the 
life  which  preserves  to  its  close  the  convictions  of  its 
beginning,  only  deepened  and  expanded.  Blessed 
are  they  whose  creed  at  last  can  be  spoken  in  the 
lessons  they  learned  in  childhood,  to  which  experience 
has  but  given  new  meaning  !  Blessed  they  who  have 
been  able  to  store  the  treasure  of  a  life's  thought  and 
learning  in  the  vessels  of  the  early  words,  which  have 
grown  like  the  magic  coffers  in  a  fairy  tale,  to  h61d 
all  the  increased  wealth  that  can  be  lodged  in  them  ! 
Beautiful  is  it  when  the  little  children  and  the  young 
men  and  the  fathers  possess  the  one  faith,  and  when 
he  who  began  as  a  child,  "  knowing  the  Father,"  ends 
as  an  old  man  with  the  same  knowledge  of  the  same 
God,  only  apprehended  now  in  a  form  which  has 
gained    majesty  from  the  fleeting   years,  as    "  Him 


Col.  i.  3-8. J  PRELUDE.  31 

that  is  from  the  beginning."  There  is  no  need  to 
leave  the  Word  long  since  heard  in  order  to  get 
novelty.  It  will  open  out  into  all  new  depths,  and 
blaze  in  new  radiance  as  men  grow.  It  will  give  new 
answers  as  the  years  ask  new  questions.  Each  epoch 
of  individual  experience,  and  each  phase  of  society, 
and  all  changing  forms  of  opinion  will  find  what 
meets  them  in  the  gospel  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  It  is 
good  for  Christian  men  often  to  recall  the  beginnings 
of  their  faith,  to  live  over  again  their  early  emotions, 
and  when  they  may  be  getting  stunned  with  the  din 
of  controversy,  and  confused  as  to  the  relative  im- 
portance of  different  parts  of  Christian  truth,  to  re- 
member what  it  was  that  first  filled  their  heart  with  joy 
like  that  of  the  finder  of  a  hidden  treasure,  and  with 
what  a  leap  of  gladness  they  first  laid  hold  of  Christ. 

That  spiritual  discipline  is  no  less  needful  than  is 
intellectual,  in  facing  the  conflicts  of  this  day. 

Again,  tnis  gospel  was  filling  the  world :  "  it  is  in 
all  the  world  bearing  fruit,  and  increasing."  There 
are  two  marks  of  life — it  is  fruitful  and  it  spreads. 
Of  course  such  words  are  not  to  be  construed  as  if 
they  occurred  in  a  statistical  table.  "  All  the  world  " 
must  be  taken,  v/ith  an  allowance  for  rhetorical  state- 
ment ;  but  making  such  allowance,  the  rapid  spread 
of  Christianity  in  Paul's  time,and  its  power  to  influence 
character  and  conduct  among  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men,  were  facts  that  needed  to  be  accounted  for, 
if  the  gospel  was  not  true. 

That  is  surely  a  noteworthy  fact,  and  one  which 
may  well  raise  a  presumption  in  favour  of  the  truth 
of  the  message,  and  make  any  proposal  to  cast  it  aside 
for  another  gospel,  a  serious  matter.  Paul  is  not 
suggesting  the  vulgar  argument  that  a  thing  must  be 


32  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

true  because  so  many  people  have  so  quickly  believed 
it.  But  what  he  is  pointing  to  is  a  much  deeper 
thought  than  that.  All  schisms  and  heresies  are 
essentially  local,  and  partial.  They  suit  coteries  and 
classes.  They  are  the  product  of  special  circumstances 
acting  on  special  casts  of  mind,  and  appeal  to  such. 
Like  parasitical  plants  they  each  require  a  certain 
species  to  grow  on,  and  cannot  spread  where  these 
are  not  found.  They  are  not  for  all  time,  but  for  an 
age.  They  are  not  for  all  men,  but  for  a  select  few. 
They  reflect  the  opinions  or  wants  of  a  layer  of  society 
or  of  a  generation,  and  fade  away.  But  the  gospel 
goes  through  the  world  and  draws  men  to  itself  out 
of  every  land  and  age.  Dainties  and  confections  are 
for  the  few,  and  many  of  them  are  like  pickled  olives 
to  unsophisticated  palates,  and  the  delicacies  of  one 
country  are  the  abominations  of  another  ;  but  every- 
body likes  bread  and  lives  on  it,  after  all. 

The  gospel  which  tells  of  Christ  belongs  to  all  and 
can  touch  all,  because  it  brushes  aside  superficial 
differences  of  culture  and  position,  and  goes  straight 
to  the  depths  of  the  one  human  heart,  which  is  alike 
in  us  all,  addressing  the  universal  sense  of  sin,  and 
revealing  the  Saviour  of  us  all,  and  in  Him  the 
universal  Father.  Do  not  fling  away  a  gospel  that 
belongs  to  all,  and  can  bring  forth  fruit  in  all  kinds 
of  people,  for  the  sake  of  accepting  what  can  never 
live  in  the  popular  heart,  nor  influence  more  than  a 
handful  of  very  select  and  "  superior  persons."  Let 
who  will  have  the  dainties,  do  you  stick  to  the  whole- 
some wheaten  bread. 

Another  plea  for  adherence  to  the  gospel  is  based 
upon  its  continuous  and  universal  fruitfulness.  It 
brings  about  results  in  conduct  and  character  which 


CoL  i.  3-8.]  PREL  UDE.  33 

strongly  attest  its  claim  to  be  from  God.  That  is  a 
rough  and  ready  test,  no  doubt,  but  a  sensible  and 
satisfactory  one.  A  system  which  says  that  it  will 
make  men  good  and  pure  is  reasonably  judged  of  by 
its  fruits,  and  Christianity  can  stand  the  test.  It 
did  change  the  face  of  the  old  world.  It  has  been 
the  principal  agent  in  the  slow  growth  of  "  nobler 
manners,  purer  laws"  which  give  the  characteristic 
stamp  to  modern  as  contrasted  with  pre-Christian 
nations.  The  threefold  abominations  of  the  old 
world — slavery,  war,  and  the  degradation  of  woman 
— have  all  been  modified,  one  of  them  abolished, 
and  the  others  growingly  felt  to  be  utterly  un- 
christian. The  main  agent  in  the  change  has  been 
the  gospel.  It  has  wrought  wonders,  too,  on  single 
souls  ;  and  though  all  Christians  must  be  too  con- 
scious of  their  own  imperfections  to  venture  on 
putting  themselves  forward  as  specimens  of  its 
power,  still  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  has  lifted  men 
from  the  dungheaps  of  sin  and  self  to  "  set  them 
with  princes,"  to  make  them  kings  and  priests ;  has 
tamed  passions,  ennobled  pursuits,  revolutionised  the 
whole  course  of  many  a  life,  and  mightily  works  to- 
day in  the  same  fashion,  in  the  measure  in  which  we 
submit  to  its  influence.  Our  imperfections  are  our 
own  ;  our  good  is  its.  A  medicine  is  not  shown  to 
be  powerless,  though  it  does  not  do  as  much  as  is 
claimed  for  it,  if  the  sick  man  has  taken  it  irregularly 
and  sparingly.  The  failure  of  Christianity  to  bring 
forth  full  fruit  arises  solely  from  the  failure  of  pro- 
fessing Christians  to  allow  its  quickening  powers  to 
fill  their  hearts.  After  all  deductions  we  may  still 
say  with  Paul,  "it  bringeth  forth  fruit  in  all  the 
world."     This  rod  has  budded,  aX  all  events ;  have 

3 


34    -  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 

any  of  its  antagonists'  rods  done  the  same  ?  Do  not 
cast  it  away,  says  Paul,  till  you  are  sure  you  have 
found  a  better. 

This  tree  not  only  fruits,  but  grows.  It  is  not 
exhausted  by  fruit-bearing,  but  it  makes  wood  as 
well.  It  is  "  increasing  "  as  well  as  "  bearing  fruit," 
and  that  growth  in  the  circuit  of  its  branches  that 
spread  through  the  world,  is  another  of  its  claims 
on  the  faithful  adhesion  of  the  Colossians. 

Again,  they  have  heard  a  gospel  which  reveals  the 
"  true  grace  of  God,"  and  that  is  another  considera- 
tion urging  to  steadfastness. 

In  opposition  to  it  there  were  put  then,  as  there 
are  put  to-day,  man's  thoughts,  and  man's  require- 
ments, a  human  wisdom  and  a  burdensome  code. 
Speculations  and  arguments  on  the  one  hand,  and 
laws  and  rituals  on  the  other,  look  thin  beside  the 
large  free  gift  of  a  loving  God  and  the  message 
which  tells  of  it.  They  are  but  poor  bony  things 
to  try  to  live  on.  The  soul  wants  something  more 
nourishing  than  such  bread  made  out  of  sawdust.  We 
want  a  loving  God  to  live  upon,  whom  we  can  love 
because  He  loves  us.  Will  anything  but  the  gospel 
give  us  that  ?  Will  anything  be  our  stay,  in  all 
weakness,  weariness,  sorrow  and  sin,  in  the  fight  of 
life  and  the  agony  of  death,  except  the  confidence 
that  in  Christ  we  "  know  the  grace  of  God  in  truth"? 

So,  if  we  gather  together  all  these  characteristics 
of  the  gospel,  they  bring  out  the  gravity  of  the  issue 
when  we  are  asked  to  tamper  with  it,  or  to  abandon 
the  old  lamp  for  the  brand  new  ones  which  many 
eager  voices  are  proclaiming  as  the  light  of  the  future. 
May  any  of  us  who  are  on  the  verge  of  the  precipice 
lay  to  heart  these  serious  thoughts  !     To  that  gospel 


Col.i.3-S.]  PRELUDE,  35 

we  owe  out  peace  ;  by  it  alone  can  the  fruit  of  lofty 
devout  lives  be  formed  and  ripened  ;  it  has  filled  the 
world  with  its  sound,  and  is  revolutionising  humanity ; 
it  and  it  only  brings  to  men  the  good  news  and  the 
actual  gift  of  the  love  and  mercy  of  God.  It  is  not 
a  small  matter  to  fling  away  all  this. 

We  do  not  prejudge  the  question  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity  ;  but,  at  all  events,  let  there  be  no  mis- 
take as  to  the  fact  that  to  give  it  up  is  to  give  up 
the  mightiest  power  that  has  ever  wrought  for  the 
world's  good,  and  that  if  its  light  be  quenched  there 
will  be  darkness  that  may  be  felt,  not  dispelled  but 
made  more  sad  and  dreary  by  the  ineffectual  flickers 
of  some  poor  rushlights  that  men  have  lit,  which 
waver  and  shine  dimly  over  a  little  space  for  a  little 
while,  and  then  die  out. 

III.  We  have  the  Apostolic  endorsement  of  Epa- 
phras,  the  early  teacher  of  the  Colossian  Christians. 

Paul  points  his  Colossian  brethren,  finally,  to  the 
lessons  which  they  had  received  from  the  teachei 
who  had  first  led  them  to  Christ.  No  doubt  his 
authority  was  imperiled  by  the  new  direction  of 
thought  in  the  Church,  and  Paul  was  desirous  of 
adding  the  weight  of  his  attestation  to  the  complete 
correspondence  between  his  own  teaching  and  that 
of  Epaphras. 

We  know  nothing  about  this  Epaphras  except 
from  thii  letter  and  that  to  Philemon.  He  is  "one 
of  you,"  1  member  of  the  Colossian  Church  (iv.  12),. 
whether  a  Colossian  born  or  not.  He  had  come 
to  the  prisoner  in  Rome,  and  had  brought  the 
tidings  of  their  condition  which  filled  the  Apostle's 
heart  with  strangely  mingled  feelings — of  joy  for 
thcir*Iove  and  Christian  walk  (verses  4,  8),  and   of 


36  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

anxiety  lest  they  should  be  swept  from  their  stead- 
fastness by  the  errors  that  he  heard  were  assailing 
them.  Epaphras  shared  this  anxiety,  and  during 
his  stay  in  Rome  was  much  in  thought,  and  care, 
and  prayer  for  them  (iv.  12).  He  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  the  bearer  of  this  letter  to  Colossae.  He 
was  in  some  sense  Paul's  fellow-servant,  and  in 
Philemon  he  is  called  by  the  yet  more  intimate, 
though  somewhat  obscure,  name  of  his  fellow- 
prisoner.  It  is  noticeable  that  he  alone  of  all  Paul's 
companions  receives  the  name  of  "  fellow-servant," 
which  may  perhaps  point  to  some  very  special  piece 
of  service  of  his,  or  may  possibly  be  only  an  instance 
of  Paul's  courteous  humility,  which  ever  delighted 
to  lift  others  to  his  own  level — as  if  he  had  said,  Do 
not  make  differences  between  your  own  Epaphras 
and  me,  we  are  both  slaves  of  one  Master. 

The  further  testimony  which  Paul  bears  to  him  is 
so  emphatic  and  pointed  as  to  suggest  that  it  was 
meant  to  uphold  an  authority  that  had  been  attacked, 
and  to  eulogize  a  character  that  had  been  maligned. 
"  He  is  a  faithful  minister  of  Christ  on  our  behalf.'* 
In  these  words  the  Apostle  endorses  his  teaching, 
as  a  true  representation  of  his  own.  Probably 
Epaphras  founded  the  Colossian  Church  and  did  so 
in  pursuance  of  a  commission  given  him  by  Paul. 
He  "also  declared  to  us  your  love  in  the  Spirit." 
As  he  had  truly  represented  Paul  and  his  message 
to  them,  so  he  lovingly  represented  them  and  their 
kindly  affection  to  him.  Probably  the  same  people 
who  questioned  Epaphras'  version  of  Paul's  teaching 
would  suspect  the  favourableness  of  his  report  of 
the  Colossian  Church,  and  hence  the  double  witness 
borne  from   the  Apostle's   generous  heart   to  both 


Col.  i.  3-8.]  PRELUDE.  37 

parts  of  his  brother's  work.  His  unstinted  praise 
is  ever  ready.  His  shield  is  swiftly  flung  over  any 
of  his  helpers  who  are  maligned  or  assailed.  Never 
was  a  leader  truer  to  his  subordinates,  more  tender 
of  their  reputation,  more  eager  for  their  increased 
influence,  and  freer  from  every  trace  of  jealousy, 
than  was  that  lofty  and  lowly  soul. 

It  is  a  beautiful  though  a  faint  image  which 
shines  out  on  us  from  these  fragmentary  notices  of 
this  Colossian  Epaphras — a  true  Christian  bishop, 
who  had  come  all  the  long  way  from  his  quiet  valley 
in  the  depths  of  Asia  Minor,  to  get  guidance  about 
his  flock  from  the  great  Apostle,  and  who  bore 
them  on  his  heart  day  and  night,  and  prayed  much 
for  them,  while  so  far  away  from  them.  How 
strange  the  fortune  which  has  made  his  name  and 
his  solicitudes  and  prayers  immortal  !  How  little 
he  dreamed  that  such  embalming  was  to  be  given 
to  his  little  services,  and  that  they  were  to  be 
crowned  with  such  exuberant  praise! 

The  smallest  work  done  for  Jesus  Christ  lasts  for 
ever,  whether  it  abide  in  men's  memories  or  no. 
Let  us  ever  live  as  those  who,  like  painters  in  fresco, 
have  with  swift  hand  to  draw  lines  and  lay  on 
colours  which  will  never  fade,  and  let  us,  by  humble 
faith  and  holy  life,  earn  such  a  character  from  Paul's 
master.  He  is  glad  to  praise,  and  praise  from  His 
lips  is  praise  indeed.  If  He  approves  of  us  as  faith- 
ful servants  on  His  behalf,  it  matters  not  what  others 
may  say.  The  Master's  "Well  done"  will  outweigh 
labours  and  toils,  and  the  depreciating  tongues  of 
fellow-servarts,  or  of  the  Master's  enemies. 


III. 

THE  PRAYER. 

"For  this  cause  we  also,  since  the  day  we  heard  it,  do  not  cease 
to  pray  and  to  make  request  for  you,  that  ye  may  be  filled  with  the 
knowledge  of  His  will,  in  all  spiritual  wisdom  and  understanding, 
to  walk  worthily  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing,  bearing  fruit  in  every 
good  work,  and  increasing  in  the  knowledge  of  God  ;  strengthened 
with  all  power,  according  to  the  might  of  His  glory,  unto  all  patience 
and  longsuffering  with  joy;  giving  thanks  unto  the  Father."— CoL. 
i.  9-12  (Rev.  Ver). 

WE  have  here  to  deal  with  one  of  Paul's  prayers 
for  his  brethren.  In  some  respects  these  are 
the  very  topmost  pinnacles  of  his  letters.  Nowhere 
else  does  his  spirit  move  so  freely,  in  no  other  parts 
are  the  fervour  of  his  piety  and  the  beautiful  simplicity 
and  depth  of  his  love  more  touchingly  shown.  The 
freedom  and  heartiness  of  our  prayers  for  others 
are  a  very  sharp  test  of  both  our  piety  to  God  and 
our  love  to  men.  Plenty  of  people  can  talk  and  vow 
who  would  find  it  hard  to  pray.  Paul's  intercessory 
prayers  are  the  high-water  mark  of  the  epistles  in 
which  they  occur.  He  must  have  been  a  good  man 
and  a  true  friend  of  whom  so  much  can  be  said. 

This  prayer  sets  forth  the  ideal  of  Christian  char- 
acter. What  Paul  desired  for  his  friends  in  Colossse 
is  what  all  true  Christian  hearts  should  chiefly  desire 
for  those  whom  they  love,  and  should  strive  after  and 
ask  for  themselves.  If  we  look  carefully  at  these 
words  we  shall  see  a  clear  division  into  parts  which 


Col. i. 9-12.]  THE  PRAYER,  39 


stand  related  to  each  other  as  root,  stem,  and  fourfold 
branches,  or  as  fountain,  undivided  stream,  and  "  four 
heads-**  into  which  this  "river"  of  Christian  life  *'is 
parted."  To  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  God's 
will  is  the  root  or  fountain-source  of  all.  From  it 
comes  a  walk  worthily  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing 
— the  practical  life  being  the  outcome  and  expression 
of  the  inward  possession  of  the  will  of  God.  Then 
we  have  four  clauses,  evidently  co-ordinate,  each 
beginning  with  a  participle,  and  together  presenting 
an  analysis  of  this  worthy  walk.  It  will  be  fruitful 
in  all  outward  work.  It  will  be  growing  in  all  inward 
knowledge  of  God.  Because  life  is  not  all  doing  and 
knowing,  but  is  suffering  likewise,  the  worthy  walk 
must  be  patient  and  long-suffering,  because  strength- 
ened by  God  Himself.  And  to  crown  all,  above 
work  and  knowledge  and  suffering  it  must  be  thank- 
fulness to  the  Father.  The  magnificent  massing 
together  of  the  grounds  of  gratitude  which  follows, 
we  must  leave  for  future  consideration,  and  pause, 
however  abruptly,  yet  not  illogically,  at  the  close 
of  the  enumeration  of  these  four  branches  of  the 
tree,  the  four  sides  of  the  firm  tower  of  the  true 
Christian   life. 

I.  Consider  the  Fountain  or  Root  of  all  Christian 
character — "  that  ye  may  be  filled  with  the  know- 
ledge of  His  will  in  all  spiritual  wisdom  and  under- 
standing." 

One  or  two  remarks  in  the  nature  of  verbal  ex- 
position may  be  desirable.  Generally  speaking,  the 
thing  desired  is  the  perfecting  of  the  Colossians  in 
religious  knowledge,  and  the  perfection  is  forcibly 
expressed  in  three  different  aspects.  The  idea  of 
completeness  up  to  the  height  of  their  capacity  is 


40  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS, 


given  in  the  prayer  that  they  may  be  "  filled,"  like 
some  jar  charged  with  sparkling  water  to  the  brim. 
The  advanced  degree  of  the  knowledge  desired  for 
them  is  given  in  the  word  here  employed,  which  is  a 
favourite  in  the  Epistles  of  the  Captivity,  and  means 
additional  or  mature  knowledge,  that  deeper  appre- 
hension of  God's  truth  which  perhaps  had   become 
more  obvious  to  Paul  in  the  quiet  growth  of  his  spirit 
during  his  life  in  Rome.     And  the  rich  variety  of 
forms  which  that  advanced  knowledge  would  assume 
is  set  forth  by  the  final  words  of  the  clause,  which 
may   either  be   connected   with   its    first    words,  so 
meaning  "  filled  ...  so  that  ye   may  abound  in  .  .  . 
wisdom  and  understanding  ;  *'  or  with  "  the  knowledge 
of  His  will,"  so   meaning  a   "  knowledge  which   is 
manifested   in."     That   knowledge  will  blossom  out 
into  every  kind  of  "  wisdom  "  and  "  understanding," 
two   words  which   it  is  hard   to   distinguish,  but  of 
which  the  former  is  perhaps  the  more  general  and 
the   latter  the  more  special,  the   former   the    more 
theoretical   and  the   latter  the  more  practical :   and 
both  are  the  work  of  the  Divine  Spirit  whose  seven- 
fold perfection  of  gifts  illuminates  with  perfect  light 
each  waiting  heart.      So  perfect,  whether  in  regard 
to  its  measure,  its  maturity,  or  its  manifoldness,  is 
the  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God,  which  the  Apostle 
regards  as  the  deepest  good  which  his  love  can  ask 
for  these  Colossians. 

Passing  by  many  thoughts  suggested  by  the  words, 
we  may  touch  one  or  two  large  principles  which  they 
involve.  The  first  is,  that  the  foundation  of  all 
Christian  character  and  conduct  is  laid  in  the  know- 
ledge of  the  will  of  God.  Every  revelation  of  God 
is  a  law.     What  it  concerns  us  to  kn^w   is  not  ab- 


Col. i. 9-12.]  THE  PRAYER.  41 

stract  truth,  or  a  revelation  for  speculative  thought^ 
but  God's  will.  He  does  not  show  Himself  to  us  in 
Older  merely  that  we  may  know,  but  in  order  that, 
knowing,  we  may  do,  and,  what  is  more  than  either 
knowing  or  doing,  in  order  that  we  may  be.  No 
revelation  from  God  has  accomplished  its  purpose 
when  a  man  has  simply  understood  it,  but  every 
fragmentary  flash  of  light  which  comes  from  Him 
in  nature  and  providence,  and  still  more  the  steady 
radiance  that  pours  from  Jesus,  is  meant  indeed  to 
teach  us  how  we  should  think  of  God,  but  to  do  that 
mainly  as  a  means  to  the  end  that  we  may  live  in 
conformity  with  His  will.  The  light  is  knowledge, 
but  it  is  a  light  to  guide  our  feet,  knowledge  which 
is  meant  to  shape  practice. 

If  that  had  been  remembered,  two  opposite  errors 
would  have  been  avoided.  The  error  that  was 
threatening  the  Colossian  Church,  and  has  haunted 
the  Church  in  general  ever  since,  was  that  of  fancy- 
ing Christianity  to  be  merely  a  system  of  truth  to  be 
believed,  a  rattling  skeleton  of  abstract  dogmas,  very 
many  and  very  dry.  An  unpractical  heterodoxy 
was  their  danger.  An  unpractical  orthodoxy  is  as 
real  a  peril.  You  may  swallow  all  the  creeds  bodily, 
you  may  even  find  in  God's  truth  the  food  of  very 
sweet  and  real  feeling  :  but  neither  knowing  nor 
feeling  is  enough.  The  one  all-important  question 
for  us  is — does  our  Christianity  work  ?  It  is  know- 
ledge of  His  willy  which  becomes  an  ever  active  force 
in  our  lives  !  Any  other  kind  of  religious  knowledge 
is  windy  food  ;  as  Paul  says,  it  "  puffeth  up  ; "  the 
knowledge  which  feeds  the  soul  with  wholesome 
nourishment  is  the  knowledge  of  His  will. 

The  converse  error  to  that  of  unpractical  knowledge, 


42  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSI ANS, 

Ihat  of  an  unintelligent  practice,  is  quite  as  bad. 
There  is  always  a  class  of  people,  and  they  are  un- 
usually numerous  to-day,  who  profess  to  attach  no 
importance  to  Christian  doctrines,  but  to  put  all  the 
stress  on  Christian  morals.  They  swear  by  the 
"  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  and  are  blind  to  the  deep 
doctrinal  basis  laid  in  that  "  sermon  "  itself,  on  which 
its  lofty  moral  teaching  is  built.  What  God  hath 
joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder.  Why  pit 
the  parent  against  the  child  }  why  wrench  the  blossom 
from  its  stem  ?  Knowledge  is  sound  when  it  moulds 
conduct.  Action  is  good  when  it  is  based  on 
knowledge.  The  knowledge  of  God  is  wholesome 
when  it  shapes  the  life.  Morality  has  a  basis  which 
makes  it  vigorous  and  permanent  when  it  rests  upon 
the  knowledge  of  His  will. 

Again :  Progress  in  knowledge  is  the  law  of  the 
Christian  life.  There  should  be  a  continual  advance- 
ment in  the  apprehension  of  God's  will,  from  that 
first  glimpse  which  saves,  to  the  mature  knowledge 
which  Paul  here  desires  for  his  friends.  The 
progress  does  not  consist  in  leaving  behind  old 
truths,  but  in  a  profounder  conception  of  what  is 
contained  in  these  truths.  How  differently  a  Fijian 
just  saved,  and  a  Paul  on  earth,  or  a  Paul  in  heaven, 
look  at  that  verse,  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that 
He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son " !  The  truths 
which  are  dim  to  the  one,  like  stars  seen  through  a 
mist,  blaze  to  the  other  like  the  same  stars  to  an  eye 
that  has  travelled  millions  of  leagues  nearer  them, 
and  sees  them  to  be  suns.  The  law  of  the  Christian 
life  is  continuous  increase  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
depths  that  lie  in  the  old  truths,  and  of  their  far- 
reaching  applications.     We   are  to  grow  in   know- 


Col. i. 9-12.]  'I HE  PRAYER.  43 

ledge  of  the  Christ  by  coming  ever  nearer  to  Him, 
and  learning  more  of  the  infinite  meaning  of  our 
earliest  lesson  that  He  is  the  Son  of  God  who  has 
died  for  us.  The  constellations  that  burn  in  our 
nightly  sky  looked  down  on  Chaldean  astronomers, 
but  though  these  are  the  same,  how  much  more  is 
known  about  them  at  Greenwich  than  was  dreamed 
at  Babylon  ! 

n.  Consider  the  River  or  Stem  of  Christian  conduct. 

The  purpose  and  outcome  of  this  full  knowledge 
of  the  will  of  God  in  Christ  is  to  "  walk  worthily 
of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing."  By  "  walk  "  is  of 
course  meant  the  whole  active  life ;  so  that  the 
principle  is  brought  out  here  very  distinctly,  that 
the  last  result  of  knowledge  of  the  Divine  will  is  an 
outward  life  regulated  by  that  will.  And  the  sort 
of  life  which  such  knowledge  leads  to,  is  designated 
in  most  general  terms  &s  "  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto 
all  pleasing,"  in  which  we  have  set  forth  two  aspects 
of  the  true  Christian  life. 

"  Worthily  of  the  Lord  !  "  The  "  Lord  "  here,  as 
generally,  is  Christ,  and  "  worthily "  seems  to  mean, 
in  a  manner  corresponding  to  what  Christ  is  to  us, 
and  has  done  for  us.  We  find  other  forms  of  the 
same  thought  in  such  expressions  as  "  worthy  of  the 
vocation  wherewith  ye  are  called "  (Eph.  iv.  i), 
"  worthily  of  saints  "  (Rom.  xvi.  2),  "  worthy  of  the 
gospel"  (Phil.  i.  27),  "worthily  of  God"  (l  Thess. 
ii.  1 2),  in  all  of  which  there  is  the  idea  of  a  standard 
to  which  the  practical  life  is  to  be  conformed. 
Thus  the  Apostle  condenses  into  one  word  all  the 
manifold  relations  in  which  we  stand  to  Christ,  and 
all  the  multifarious  arguments  for  a  holy  life  which 
they  yield. 


44  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

These  are  mainly  two.  The  Christian  should 
"  walk  "  in  a  manner  corresponding  to  what  Christ 
has  done  for  him.  "  Do  ye  thus  requite  the  Lord, 
O  foolish  people,  and  unwise  .-*  "  was  the  mournful 
wondering  question  of  the  dying  Moses  to  his 
people,  as  he  summed  up  the  history  of  unbroken 
tenderness  and  love  on  the  one  side,  and  of  dis- 
loyalty almost  as  uninterrupted  on  the  other.  How 
much  more  pathetically  and  emphatically  might  the 
question  be  asked  of  us  !  We  say  that  we  are  not 
our  own,  but  bought  with  a  price.  Then  how  do 
we  repay  that  costly  purchase  }  Do  we  not  requite 
His  blood  and  tears,  His  unquenchable,  unalterable 
love,  with  a  little  tepid  love  which  grudges  sacrifices 
and  has  scarcely  power  enough  to  influence  conduct 
at  all,  with  a  little  trembling  faith  which  but  poorly 
corresponds  to  His  firm  promises,  with  a  little 
reluctant  obedience }  The  richest  treasure  of 
heaven  has  been  freely  lavished  for  us,  and  we 
return  a  sparing  expenditure  of  our  hearts  and 
ourselves,  repaying  fine  gold  with  tarnished  copper, 
and  the  flood  of  love  from  the  heart  of  Christ  with 
a  few  niggard  drops  grudgingly  squeezed  from  ours. 
Nothing  short  of  complete  self-surrender,  perfect 
obedience,  and  unwavering  unfaltering  love  can 
characterize  the  walk  that  corresponds  with  our  pro- 
found obligations  to  Him.  Surely  there  can  be  no 
stronger  cord  with  which  to  bind  us  as  sacrifices  to 
the  horns  of  the  altar  than  the  cords  of  love.  This 
is  the  unique  glory  and  power  of  Christian  ethics, 
that  it  brings  in  this  tender  personal  element  to 
transmute  the  coldness  of  duty  into  the  warmth  of 
gratitude,  so  throwing  rosy  light  over  the  snowy 
summits  of  abstract  virtue.     Repugnant  duties  become 


Col.  1.9- 1 2.]  THE  PRAYER,  45 

tokens  of  love,  pleasant  as  every  sacrifice  made  at 
its  bidding  ever  is.  The  true  Christian  spirit  says  : 
Thou  hast  given  Thyself  wholly  for  me  :  help  me  to 
yield  myself  to  Thee.  Thou  hast  loved  me  perfectly  : 
help  me  to  love  Thee  with  all  my  heart. 

The  other  side  of  this  conception  of  a  worthy  walk 
is,  that  the  Christian  should  act  in  a  manner  corre- 
sponding to  Christ's  character  and  conduct.  We 
profess  to  be  His  by  sacredest  ties  :  then  we  should 
set  our  watches  by  that  dial,  being  conformed  to  His 
likeness,  and  in  all  our  daily  life  trying  to  do  as  He 
has  done,  or  as  we  believe  He  would  do  if  He  were 
in  our  place.  Nothing  less  than  the  effort  to  tread 
in  His  footsteps  is  a  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord.  All 
unlikeness  to  His  pattern  is  a  dishonour  to  Him  and 
to  ourselves.  It  is  neither  worthy  of  the  Lord,  nor 
of  the  vocation  wherewith  we  are  called,  nor  of  the 
name  of  saints.  Only  when  these  two  things  are 
brought  about  in  my  experience — when  the  glow  of 
His  love  melts  my  heart  and  makes  it  flow  down  in 
answering  affection,  and  when  the  beauty  of  His 
perfect  life  stands  ever  before  me,  and  though  it 
be  high  above  me,  is  not  a  despair,  but  a  stimulus 
and  a  hope — only  then  do  I  "  walk  worthy  of  the 
Lord." 

Another  thought  as  to  the  nature  of  the  life  in 
which  the  knowledge  of  the  Divine  will  should  issue, 
is  expressed  in  the  other  clause — "  unto  all  pleasing," 
which  sets  forth  the  great  aim  as  being  to  please 
Christ  in  everything.  That  is  a  strange  purpose 
to  propose  to  men,  as  the  supreme  end  to  be  ever 
kept  in  view,  to  satisfy  Jesus  Christ  by  their  conduct. 
To  make  the  good  opinion  of  men  our  aim  is  to  be 
slaves  ;   but   to  please    this   Man   ennobles  us,  and 


46  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

exalts  life.  Who  or  what  is  He,  whose  judgment  of 
us  is  thus  all-important,  whose  approbation  is  praise 
indeed,  and  to  win  whose  smile  is  a  worthy  object 
for  which  to  use  life,  or  even  to  lose  it  ?  We  should 
ask  ourselves,  Do  we  make  it  our  ever  present  object 
to  satisfy  Jesus  Christ  ?  We  are  not  to  mind  about 
other  people's  approbation.  We  can  do  without 
that.  We  are  not  to  hunt  after  the  good  word  of 
our  fellows.  Every  life  into  which  that  craving  for 
man's  praise  and  good  opinion  enters  is  tarnished  by 
it.  It  is  a  canker,  a  creeping  leprosy,  which  eats 
sincerity  and  nobleness  and  strength  out  of  a  man. 
Let  us  not  care  to  trim  our  sails  to  catch  the  shifting 
winds  of  this  or  that  man's  favour  and  eulogiutn,  but 
look  higher  and  say,  "  With  me  it  is  a  very  small 
matter  to  be  judged  of  man's  judgment."  "  I  appeal 
unto  Csesar."  He,  the  true  Commander  and  Emperor, 
holds  our  fate  in  His  hands  ;  we  have  to  please  Him 
and  Him  only.  There  is  no  thought  which  will  so 
reduce  the  importance  of  the  babble  around  us,  and 
teach  us  such  brave  and  wholesome  contempt  for 
popular  applause,  and  all  the  strife  of  tongues,  as 
the  constant  habit  of  trying  to  act  as  ever  in  our 
great  Taskmaster's  eye.  What  does  it  matter  who 
praise,  if  He  frowns  ?  or  who  blame,  if  His  face  lights 
with  a  smile  ?  No  thought  will  so  spur  us  to  dili- 
gence, and  make  all  life  solemn  and  grand  as  the 
thought  that  "  we  labour,  that  whether  present  or 
absent,  we  may  be  well  pleasing  to  Him."  Nothing 
will  so  string  the  muscles  for  the  fight,  and  free  us 
from  being  entangled  with  the  things  of  this  life,  as 
the  ambition  to  "please  Him  who  has  called  us  to 
be  soldiers." 

Men   have  willingly  flung  away  their  lives  for  a 


Col.i.c,-i2.]  THE  PRAYER.  47 

couple  of  lines  of  praise  in  a  despatch,  or  for  a  smile 
from  some  great  commander.  Let  us  try  to  live  and 
die  so  as  to  get  "  honourable  mention "  from  oar 
captain.  Praise  from  His  lips  is  praise  indeed.  We 
shall  not  know  how  much  it  is  worth,  till  the  smile 
lights  His  face,  and  the  love  comes  into  His  eyes,  as 
He  looks  at  us,  and  says,  "  Well  done !  good  and 
faithful  servant." 

HI,  We  have  finally  the  fourfold  streams  or 
branches  into  which  this  general  conception  of  Chris- 
tian character  parts  itself. 

There  are  four  participial  clauses  here,  which  seem 
all  to  stand  on  one  level,  and  to  present  an  analysis 
in  more  detail  of  the  component  parts  of  this  worthy 
walk.  In  general  terms  it  is  divided  into  fruitfulness 
in  work,  increase  in  knowledge,  strength  for  suffering, 
and,  as  the  climax  of  all,  thankfulness. 

The  first  element  is — "  bearing  fruit  in  every 
good  work."  These  words  carry  us  back  to  what 
was  said  in  ver.  6  about  the  fruitfulness  of  the 
gospel.  Here  the  man  in  whom  that  word  is 
planted  is  regarded  as  the  producer  of  the  fruit,  by 
the  same  natural  transition  by  which,  in  our  Lord's 
Parable  of  the  Sower,  the  men  in  whose  hearts  the 
seed  was  sown  are  spoken  of  as  themselves  on  the 
one  hand,  bringing  no  fruit  to  perfection,  and  on 
the  other,  bringing  forth  fruit  with  patience.  The 
worthy  walk  will  be  first  manifested  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  rich  variety  of  forms  of  goodness.  All 
profound  knowledge  of  God,  and  all  lofty  thoughts 
of  imitating  and  pleasing  Christ,  are  to  be  tested  at 
last  by  their  power  to  make  men  good,  and  that  not 
after  any  monotonous  type,  nor  on  one  side  of  their 
pature  only. 


4S  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CO  LOSS  TANS. 

One  plain  principle  implied  here  is  that  the  only 
true  fruit  is  goodness.  We  may  be  busy,  as  many 
a  man  in  our  great  commercial  cities  is  busy,  from 
Monday  morning  till  Saturday  night  for  a  long  life- 
time, and  may  have  had  to  build  bigger  barns  for 
our  "fruits  and  our  goods,"  and  yet,  in  the  high 
and  solemn  meaning  of  the  word  here,  our  life  may 
be  utterly  empty  and  fruitless.  Much  of  our  work 
and  of  its  results  is  no  more  fruit  than  the  galls  on 
the  oak-leaves  are.  They  are  a  swelling  from  a 
puncture  made  by  an  insect,  a  sign  of  disease,  not 
of  life.  The  only  sort  of  work  which  can  be  called 
fruit,  in  the  highest  meaning  of  the  word,  is  that 
which  corresponds  to  a  man's  whole  nature  and 
relations ;  and  the  only  work  which  does  so  corre- 
spond is  a  life  of  loving  service  of  God,  which 
cultivates  all  things  lovely  and  of  good  report. 
Goodness,  therefore,  alone  deserves  to  be  called 
fruit — as  for  all  the  rest  of  our  busy  lives,  they  and 
their  toils  are  like  the  rootless,  lifeless  chaff  that 
is  whirled  out  of  the  threshing-floor  by  every  gust. 
A  life  which  has  not  in  it  holiness  and  loving 
obedience,  however  richly  productive  it  may  be  in 
lower  respects,  is  in  inmost  reality  blighted  and 
barren,  and  is  "  nigh  unto  burning."  Goodness  is 
fruit ;  all  else  is  nothing  but  leaves. 

Again  ;  the  Christian  life  is  to  be  "  fruitful  in 
every  good  work."  This  tree  is  to  be  like  that  in 
the  apocalyptic  vision,  which  "  bare  twelve  manner 
of  fruits,"  yielding  every  month  a  different  sort. 
So  we  should  fill  the  whole  circuit  of  the  year  with 
various  holiness,  and  seek  to  make  widely  different 
forms  of  goodness  our  own.  We  have  all  certain 
kind     of  excellence   which  are    more    natural    and 


Col.  i.  9-12.]  THE  PRAYER,  49 

easier  for  us  than  others  are.  We  should  seek  to 
cultivate  the  kind  which  is  hardest  for  us.  The 
thorn  stock  of  our  own  character  should  bear  not 
only  grapes,  but  figs  too,  and  olives  as  well,  being 
grafted  upon  the  true  olive-tree,  which  is  Christ. 
Let  us  aim  at  this  all-round  and  multiform  virtue, 
and  not  be  like  a  scene  for  a  stage,  all  gay  and 
bright  on  one  side,  and  dirty  canvas  and  stretchers 
hung  with  cobwebs  on  the  other. 

The  second  element  in  the  analysis  of  the  true 
Christian  life  is — "increasing  in  the  knowledge  of 
God."  The  figure  of  the  tree  is  probably  continued 
here.  If  it  fruits,  its  girth  will  increase,  its  branches 
will  spread,  its  top  v/ill  mount,  and  next  year  its 
shadow  on  the  grass  will  cover  a  larger  circle. 
Some  would  take  the  "  knowledge  "  here  as  the 
instrument  or  means  of  growth,  and  would  render 
"  increasing  by  the  knowledge  of  God,"  supposing 
that  the  knowledge  is  represented  as  the  rain  or  the 
sunshine  which  minister  to  the  growth  of  the  plant 
But  perhaps  it  is  better  to  keep  to  the  idea  conveyed 
by  the  common  rendering,  which  regards  the  words 
"in  knowledge"  as  the  specification  of  that  region 
in  which  the  growth  enjoined  is  to  be  realized.  So 
here  we  have  the  converse  of  the  relation  between 
work  and  knowledge  which  we  met  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  chapter.  There,  knowledge  led  to  a 
worthy  walk  ;  here,  fruitfulness  in  good  works  leads 
to,  or  at  all  events  is  accompanied  with,  an  increased 
knowledge.  And  both  are  true.  These  two  work 
on  each  other  a  reciprocal  increase.  All  true 
knowledge  which  is  not  mere  empty  notions, 
naturally  tends  to  influence  action,  and  all  true 
action  naturally  tends  to  confirm  the  knowledge  from 

4 


so  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

which  it  proceeds.  Obedience  gives  insight  :  "  If 
any  man  wills  to  do  My  will;  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine."  If  I  am  faithful  up  to  the  limits  of  my 
present  knowledge,  and  have  brought  it  all  to  bear 
on  character  and  conduct,  I  shall  find  that  in  the 
effort  to  make  my  every  thought  a  deed,  there  have 
fallen  from  my  eyes  as  it  were  scales,  and  I  see 
some  things  clearly  which  were  faint  and  doubtful 
before.  Moral  truth  becomes  dim  to  a  bad  man. 
Religious  truth  grows  bright  to  a  good  one,  and 
whosoever  strives  to  bring  all  his  creed  into  practice, 
and  all  his  practice  under  the  guidance  of  his  creed, 
will  find  that  the  path  of  obedience  is  the  path  of 
growing  light. 

Then  comes  the  third  element  in  this  resolution 
of  the  Christian  character  into  its  component  parts 
— "  strengthened  with  all  power,  according  to  the 
might  of  His  glory,  unto  all  patience  and  long- 
suffering  with  joyfulness."  Knowing  and  doing  are 
not  the  whole  of  life  :  there  are  sorrow  and  suffering 
too. 

Here  again  we  have  the  Apostle's  favourite  "  all," 
which  occurs  so  frequently  in  this  connection.  As 
he  desired  for  the  Colossians,  all  wisdom,  unto  all 
pleasing,  and  fruitfulness  in  eveiy  good  work,  so  he 
prays  for  all  power  to  strengthen  them.  Every  kind 
of  strength  which  God  can  give  and  man  can  receive, 
is  to  be  sought  after  by  us,  that  we  may  be  "  girded 
with  strength,"  cast  like  a  brazen  wall  all  round  our 
human  weakness.  And  that  Divine  power  is  to  flow 
into  us,  having  this  for  its  measure  and  limit — "  the 
might  of  His  glory."  His  "  glory  "  is  the  lustrous 
light  of  His  self-revelation  ;  and  the  far-flashing 
energy  revealed  in  that  self-manifestation  is  the  im« 


Col. i. 9-12.]  THE  PRAYER,  5' 

measurable  measure  of  the  strength  that  may  be  ours. 
True,  a  finite  nature  can  never  contain  the  infinite, 
but  man's  finite  nature  is  capable  of  indefinite  expan- 
sion. Its  elastic  walls  stretch  to  contain  the  increasing 
gift.  The  more  we  desire,  the  more  we  receive,  and 
the  more  we  receive,  the  more  we  are  able  to  receive. 
The  amount  which  filled  our  hearts  to-day  should 
not  fill  them  to-morrow.  Our  capacity  is  at  each 
moment  the  working  limit  of  the  measure  of  the 
strength  given  us.  But  it  is  always  shifting,  and 
may  be  continually  increasing.  The  only  real  limit 
is  "  the  might  of  His  glory,"  the  limitless  omnipotence 
of  the  self-revealing  God.  To  that  we  may  in- 
definitely approach,  and  till  we  have  exhausted 
God  we  have  not  reached  the  furthest  point  to  which 
we  should  aspire. 

And  what  exalted  mission  is  destined  for  this 
wonderful  communicated  strength }  Nothing  that 
the  world  thinks  great :  only  helping  some  lone  widow 
to  stay  her  heart  in  patience,  and  flinging  a  gleam 
of  brightness,  like  sunrise  on  a  stormy  sea,  over  some 
tempest-tossed  life.  The  strength  is  worthily  em- 
ployed and  absorbed  in  producing  "all  patience  and 
longsufifering  with  joy."  Again  the  favourite  "all" 
expresses  the  universality  of  the  patience  and  long 
suffering.  Patience  here  is  not  merely  passive 
endurance.  It  includes  the  idea  of  perseverance  in 
the  right  course,  as  well  as  that  of  uncomplaining 
bearing  of  evil.  It  is  the  "  steering  right  onward," 
without  bating  one  jot  of  heart  or  hope  ;  the  temper 
of  the  traveller  who  struggles  forward,  though  the 
wind  in  his  face  dashes  the  sleet  in  his  eyes,  and  he 
has  to  wade  through  deep  snow.  While  "patience  " 
regards  the  evil  mainly  as  sent  by  God,  and  as  making 


52  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

the  race  set  before  us  difficult,  "  longsuffering  "  de- 
scribes the  temper  under  suffering  when  considered  as 
a  wrong  or  injury  done  by  man.  And  whether  we 
think  of  our  afflictions  in  the  one  or  the  other  light, 
God's  strength  will  steal  into  our  hearts,  if  we  will, 
not  merely  to  help  us  to  bear  them  with  perseverance 
and  with  meekness  as  unruffled  as  Christ's,  but  to 
crown  both  graces — as  the  clouds  are  sometimes 
rimmed  with  flashing  gold — with  a  great  light  of  joy. 
That  is  the  highest  attainment  of  all.  "Sorrowful, 
yet  always  rejoicing."  Flowers  beneath  the  snow, 
songs  in  the  night,  fire  burning  beneath  the  water, 
"  peace  subsisting  at  the  heart  of  endless  agitation," 
cool  airs  in  the  very  crater  of  Vesuvius — all  these 
paradoxes  may  be  surpassed  in  our  hearts  if  they 
are  strengthened  with  all  might  by  an  indwelling 
Christ. 

The  crown  of  all,  the  last  of  the  elements  of  the 
Christian  character,  is  thankfulness — "  giving  thanks 
unto  the  Father."  This  is  the  summit  of  all  ;  and 
is  to  be  diffused  through  all.  All  our  progressive 
fruitfulness  and  insight,  as  well  as  our  perseverance 
and  unruffled  meekness  in  suffering,  should  have  a 
breath  of  thankfulness  breathed  through  them.  We 
shall  see  the  grand  enumeration  of  the  reasons  for 
thankfulness  in  the  next  verses.  Here  we  pause 
for  the  present,  with  this  final  constituent  of  the 
life  which  Paul  desired  for  the  Colossian  Chris- 
tians. Thankfulness  should  mingle  with  all  our 
thoughts  and  feelings,  like  the  fragrance  of  some 
perfume  penetrating  through  the  common  scentless 
air.  It  should  embrace  all  events.  It  should  be  an 
operating  motive  in  all  actions.  We  should  be 
clear-sighted   and    believing  enough  to  be  thankful 


Col.  i.  9-12.]  THE  PRAYER,  53 

for  pain  and  disappointment  and  loss.  That  gratitude 
will  add  the  crowning  consecration  to  service  and 
knowledge  and  endurance.  It  will  touch  our  spirits 
to  the  finest  of  all  issues,  for  it  will  lead  to  glad  self- 
surrender,  and  make  of  our  whole  life  a  sacrifice  of 
praise.  "  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of 
God,  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice." 
Our  lives  will  then  exhale  in  fragrance  and  shoot  up 
in  flashing  tongues  of  ruddy  light  and  beauty,  when 
kindled  into  a  flame  of  gratitude  by  the  glow  of 
Christ's  great  love.  Let  us  lay  our  poor  selves  on 
that  altar,  as  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving  ;  for  with  such 
sacrifices  God  is  well-pleased. 


IV. 

THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS  THROUGH   THE  SON, 

**The  Father,  who  made  us  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light ;  who  delivered  us  out  of  the  power  of  darkness, 
and  translated  us  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  His  love  ;  in  whom 
we  have  our  redemption,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins." — COL.  i.  12-14 
(Rev.  Ver.). 

WE  have  advanced  thus  far  in  this  Epistle 
without  having  reached  its  main  subject. 
We  now,  however,  are  on  its  verge.  The  next 
verses  to  those  now  to  be  considered  lead  us  into 
the  very  heart  of  Paul's  teaching,  by  which  he  would 
oppose  the  errors  rife  in  the  Colossian  Church. 
The  great  passages  describing  the  person  and  work 
of  Jesus  Christ  are  at  hand,  and  here  we  have  the 
immediate  transition  to  them. 

The  skill  with  which  the  transition  is  made  is 
remarkable.  How  gradually  and  surely  the 
sentences,  like  some  hovering  winged  things,  circle 
more  and  more  closely  round  the  central  light,  till 
in  the  last  words  they  touch  it,  ,  .  .  "  the  Son  of 
His  love  !  "  It  is  like  some  long  procession  herald- 
ing a  king.  They  that  go  before,  cry  Hosanna,  and 
point  to  him  who  comes  last  and  chief  The 
affectionate  greetings  which  begin  the  letter,  pass 
into  prayer ;  the  prayer  into  thanksgiving.  The 
thanksgiving,  as  in  these  words,  lingers  over  and 
recounts  our    blessings,   as  a  rich  man   counts  his 


Col. i.  12-14.]  THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS.  55 

treasures,  or  a  lover  dwells  on  his  joys.  The 
enumeration  of  the  blessings  leads,  as  by  a  golden 
thread,  to  the  thought  and  name  of  Christ,  the 
fountain  of  them  all,  and  then,  with  a  burst  and  a 
rush,  the  flood  of  the  truths  about  Christ  which  he 
had  to  give  them  sweeps  through  Paul's  mind  and 
heart,  carrying  everything  before  it.  The  name  of 
Christ  always  opens  the  floodgates  in  Paul's  heart. 

We  have  here  then  the  deepest  grounds  for 
Christian  thanksgiving,  which  are  likewise  the  pre- 
parations for  a  true  estimate  of  the  worth  of  the 
Christ  who  gives  them.  These  grounds  of  thanks- 
giving are  but  variou.3  aspects  of  the  one  great 
blessing  of  "  Salvation."  The  diamond  flashes 
greens  and  purples,  and  yellows  and  reds,  according 
to  the  angle  at  which  its  facets  catch  the  eye. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that  all  these  bless- 
ings are  the  present  possession  of  Christians.  The 
language  of  the  first  three  clauses  in  the  verses 
before  us  points  distinctly  to  a  definite  past  act  by 
which  the  Father,  at  some  definite  point  of  time, 
made  us  meet,  delivered  and  translated  us,  while  the 
present  tense  in  the  last  clause  shows  that  "our 
redemption  "  is  not  only  begun  by  some  definite  act 
in  the  past,  but  is  continuously  and  progressively 
possessed  in  the  present. 

We  notice,  too,  the  remarkable  correspondence  of 
language  with  that  which  Paul  heard  when  he  lay 
prone  on  the  ground,  blinded  by  the  flashing  light, 
and  amazed  by  the  pleading  remonstrance  from 
heaven  which  rung  in  his  ears.  "  I  send  thee  to 
the  Gentiles  .  .  .  that  they  may  turn  from  dark- 
iiess  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God,  that  they  may  receive  remission  of  sinSy  and  an 


56  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

ijiheritance  among  them  which  are  sanctified."  All 
the  principal  phrases  are  there,  and  are  freely 
recombined  by  Paul,  as  if  unconsciously  his  memory 
was  haunted  still  by  the  sound  of  the  transforming 
words  heard  so  long  ago. 

I.  The  first  ground  of  thankfulness  which  all 
Christians  have  is,  that  they  are  fit  for  the  inheritance. 
Of  course  the  metaphor  here  is  drawn  from  the 
"  inheritance  "  given  to  the  people  of  Israel,  namely, 
the  land  of  Canaan.  Unfortunately,  our  use  of 
"  heir  "  and  "  inheritance  "  confines  the  idea  to  pos- 
session by  succession  on  death,  and  hence  some 
perplexity  is  popularly  experienced  as  to  the  force 
of  the  word  in  Scripture.  There,  it  implies  posses- 
sion by  lot,  if  anything  more  than  the  simple 
notion  of  possession  ;  and  points  to  the  fact  that  the 
people  did  not  win  their  land  by  their  own  swords, 
but  because  "  God  had  a  favour  unto  them."  So 
the  Christian  inheritance  is  not  won  by  our  own 
merit,  but  given  by  God's  goodness.  The  words 
may  be  literally  rendered,  "  fitted  us  for  the  portion 
of  the  lot,"  and  taken  to  mean  the  share  or  portion 
which  consists  in  the  lot  ;  but  perhaps  it  is  clearer, 
and  more  accordant  with  the  analogy  of  the  division 
of  the  land  among  the  tribes,  to  take  them  as 
meaning  "for  our  (individual)  share  in  the  broad 
land  which,  as  a  whole,  is  the  allotted  possession 
of  the  saints."  This  possession  belongs  to  them, 
and  is  situated  in  the  world  of  "light."  Such  is 
the  general  outline  of  the  thoughts  here.  The  first 
question  that  arises  is,  whether  this  inheritance 
is  present  or  future.  The  best  answer  is  that 
it  is  both  ;  because,  whatever  additions  of  power 
and    splendour    as    yet    unspeakable    may   wait  to 


Col.  i.  12-14.]  THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS.  57 

be  revealed  in  the  future,  the  essence  of  all  which 
heaven  can  bring  is  ours  to-day,  if  we  live  in  the 
faith  and  love  of  Christ.  The  difference  between 
a  life  of  communion  with  God  here  and  yonder  is 
one  of  degree  and  not  of  kind.  True,  there  are 
differences  of  which  we  cannot  speak,  in  enlarged 
capacities,  and  a  "  spiritual  body,"  and  sins  cast  out, 
and  nearer  approach  to  "  the  fountain  itself  of 
heavenly  radiance  ; "  but  he  who  can  say,  while  he 
walks  amongst  the  shadows  of  earth,  "  The  Lord  is 
the  portion  of  my  inheritance,"  will  neither  leave  his 
treasures  behind  him  when  he  dies,  nor  enter  on  the 
possession  of  a  wholly  new  inheritance,  when  he 
passes  into  the  heavens.  But  while  this  is  true,  it 
is  also  true  that  that  future  possession  of  God 
will  be  so  deepened  and  enlarged  that  its  beginnings 
here  are  but  the  "  earnest,"  of  the  same  nature 
indeed  as  the  estate,  but  limited  in  comparison  as 
is  the  tuft  of  grass  which  used  to  be  given  to  a  new 
possessor,  when  set  against  the  broad  lands  from 
which  it  was  plucked.  Here  certainly  the  pre- 
dominant idea  is  that  of  a  present  fitness  for  a 
mainly  future  possession. 

We  notice  again — where  the  inheritance  is  situated 
— "in  the  light."  There  are  several  possible  ways 
of  connecting  that  clause  with  the  preceding.  But 
without  discussing  these,  it  may  be  enough  to  point 
out  that  the  most  satisfactory  seems  to  be  to  regard 
it  as  specifying  the  region  in  which  the  inheritance 
h*es.  It  lies  in  a  realm  where  purity  and  knowledge 
and  gladness  dwell  undimmed  and  unbounded  by  an 
envious  ring  of  darkness.  For  these  three  are  the 
triple  rays  into  which,  according  to  the  Biblical  use 
of  the  figure,  that  white  beam  may  be  resolved. 


58  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSFANS. 

From  this  there  follows  that  it  is  capable  of  being 
possessed  only  by  saints.  There  is  no  merit  or 
desert  which  makes  men  worthy  of  the  inheritance,  but 
there  is  a  congruity,  or  correspondence  between  char- 
acter and  the  inheritance.  If  we  rightly  understand 
what  the  essential  elements  of  "  heaven  •'  are,  we  shall 
have  no  difficulty  in  seeing  that  the  possession  of  it 
is  utterly  incompatible  with  anything  but  holiness. 
The  vulgar  ideas  of  what  heaven  is,  hinder  people 
from  seeing  how  to  get  there.  They  dwell  upon  the 
mere  outside  of  the  thing,  they  take  symbols  for 
realities  and  accidents  for  essentials,  and  so  it  ap- 
pears an  arbitrary  arrangement  that  a  man  must 
have  faith  in  Christ  to  enter  heaven.  If  it  be  a 
kingdom  of  light,  then  only  souls  that  love  the  light 
can  go  thither,  and  until  owls  and  bats  rejoice  in 
the  sunshine,  there  will  be  no  way  of  being  fit  for 
the  inheritance  which  is  light,  but  by  ourselves  being 
"light  in  the  Lord."  Light  itself  is  a  torture  to 
diseased  eyes.  Turn  up  any  stone  by  the  roadside 
and  we  see  how  unwelcome  light  is  to  crawling 
creatures  that  have  lived  in  the  darkness  till  they 
have  come  to  love  it. 

Heaven  is  God  and  God  is  heaven.  How  can  a 
soul  possess  God,  and  find  its  heaven  in  possessing 
Him  }  Certainly  only  by  likeness  to  Him,  and  loving 
Him.  The  old  question,  "Who  shall  stand  in  the 
Holy  Place  ? "  is  not  answered  in  the  gospel  by 
reducing  the  conditions,  or  negativing  the  old  reply. 
The  common  sense  of  every  conscience  answers,  and 
Christianity  answers,  as  the  Psalmist  does,  "  He  that 
hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart." 

One  more  step  has  to  be  taken  to  reach  the  full 
meaning  of  these  words,  namely,  the  assertion  that 


Col.  i.  12-14.]  "^HE  FATHER'S  GIFTS.  59 


men  who  are  not  yet  perfectly  pure  are  already  fit 
to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance.  The  tense  of 
the  verb  in  the  original  points  back  to  a  definite  act 
by  which  the  Colossians  were  made  meet,  namely, 
their  conversion  ;  and  the  plain  emphatic  teaching  of 
the  New  Testament  is  that  incipient  and  feeble  faith 
in  Christ  works  a  change  so  great,  that  through  it 
we  are  fitted  for  the  inheritance  by  the  impartation 
of  a  new  nature,  which,  though  it  be  but  as  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,  shapes  from  henceforth  the  very  inmost 
centre  of  our  personal  being,  ,  In  due  time  that  spark 
will  convert  into  its  own  fiery  brightness  the  whole 
mass,  however  green  and  smokily  it  begins  to  burn. 
Not  the  absence  of  sin,  but  the  presence  of  faith  work- 
ing by  love,  and  longing  for  the  light,  makes  fitness. 
No  doubt  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  we  must  put  off  the  vesture  of  the  body 
which  has  wrapped  us  during  the  wild  weather  here, 
before  we  can  be  fully  fit  to  enter  the  banquet- 
ing hall ;  nor  do  we  know  how  much  evil  which  has 
not  its  seat  in  the  soul  may  drop  away  therewith — 
but  the  spirit  is  fit  for  heaven  as  soon  as  a  man  turns 
to  God  in  Christ.  Suppose  a  company  of  rebels, 
and  one  of  them,  melted  by  some  reason  or  other,  is 
brought  back  to  loyalty.  He  is  fit  by.  that  inward 
change,  although  he  has  not  done  a  single  act  of 
loyalty,  for  the  society  of  loyal  subjects,  and  unfit 
for  that  of  traitors.  Suppose  a  prodigal  son  away 
in  the  far  off  land.  Some  remembrance  comes  over 
him  of  what  home  used  to  be  like,  and  of  the 
bountiful  \\(  use-keeping  that  is  still  there  ;  and  though 
it  may  begin  with  nothing  more  exalted  than  an 
empty  stomach,  if  it  ends  in  "  I  will  arise  and  go 
to  my  Father,"  at  that  instant  a  gulf  opens  between 


6o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

him  and  the  riotous  living  of  "  the  citizens  of  that 
country,"  and  he  is  no  longer  fitted  for  their  company. 
He  is  meet  for  the  fellowship  of  his  father's  house, 
though  he  has  a  weary  journey  before  he  gets  there, 
and  needs  to  have  his  rags  changed,  and  his  filth 
washed  off  him,  ere  he  can  sit  down  at  the  feast. 

So  whoever  turns  to  the  love  of  God  in  Christ, 
and  yields  in  the  inmost  part  of  his  being  to  the 
power  of  His  grace,  is  already  "  light  in  the  Lord." 
The  true  home  and  affinities  of  his  real  self  are  in 
the  kingdom  of  the  light,  and  he  is  ready  for  his 
part  in  the  inheritance,  either  here  or  yonder.  There 
is  no  breach  of  the  great  law,  that  character  makes 
fitness  for  heaven — might  we  not  say  that  character 
makes  heaven  t — for  the  very  roots  of  character  lie 
in  disposition  and  desire,  rather  than  in  action.  Nor 
is  there  in  this  principle  anything  inconsistent  with 
the  need  for  continual  growth  in  congruity  of  nature 
with  that  land  of  light.  The  light  within,  if  it  be 
truly  there,  will,  however  slowly,  spread,  as  surely 
as  the  grey  of  twilight  brightens  to  the  blaze  of 
noonday.  The  heart  will  be  more  and  more  filled 
with  it,  and  the  darkness  driven  back  more  and  more 
to  brood  in  remote  corners,  and  at  last  will  vanish 
utterly.  True  fitness  will  become  more  and  more 
fit.  We  shall  grow  more  and  more  capable  of  God. 
The  measure  of  our  capacity  is  the  measure  of  our 
possession,  and  the  measure  in  which  we  have 
become  light,  is  the  measure  of  our  capacity  for  the 
light.  The  land  was  parted  among  the  tribes  of 
Israel  according  to  their  strength  ;  some  had  a  wider, 
some  a  narrower  strip  of  territory.  So,  as  there  are 
differences  in  Christian  character  here,  there  will  be 
differences  in  Christian  participation  in  the  inheritance 


Col.  i.  12-1-1]  THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS,  6l 

hereafter.  "  Star  differeth  from  star."  Some  will 
blaze  in  brighter  radiance  and  glow  with  more  fervent 
heat  because  they  move  in  orbits  closer  to  the  sun. 

But,  thank  God,  we  are  "  fit  for  the  inheritance," 
if  we  have  ever  so  humbly  and  poorly  trusted  our- 
selves to  Jesus  Christ  and  received  His  renewing  life 
into  our  spirits.  Character  alone  fits  for  heaven. 
But  character  may  be  in  germ  or  in  fruit.  "  If  any 
man  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature."  Do  we 
trust  ourselves  to  Him  ?  Are  we  trying,  with  His , 
help,  to  live  as  children  of  the  light  .'*  Then  we  need 
not  droop  or  despair  by  reason  of  evil  that  may  still 
haunt  our  lives.  Let  us  give  it  no  quarter,  for  it 
diminishes  our  fitness  for  the  full  possession  of  God  ; 
but  let  it  not  cause  our  tongue  to  falter  in  "  giving 
thanks  to  the  Father  who  made  us  meet  to  be  par- 
takers of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light." 

n.  The  second  ground  of  thankfulness  is,  the  change 
of  king  and  country.  God  "  delivered  us  out  of  the 
power  of  darkness,  and  translated  us  into  the  kingdom 
of  the  Son  of  His  love."  These  two  clauses  embrace 
the  negative  and  positive  sides  of  the  same  act  which 
is  referred  to  in  the  former  ground  of  thankfulness, 
only  stated  now  in  reference  to  our  allegiance  and 
citizenship  in  the  present  rather  than  in  the  future.  In 
the  "  deliverance  "  there  may  be  a  reference  to  God's 
bringing  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  suggested  by  the  previous 
mention  of  the  inheritance,  while  the  "translation" 
into  the  other  kingdom  may  be  an  illustration  drawn 
from  the  well  known  practice  of  ancient  warfare,  the 
deportation  of  large  bodies  of  natives  from  conquered 
kingdoms  to  some  other  part  of  the  conqueror's 
realm. 

We  notice  then  the  two  kingdoms  and  their  kings. 


^2'  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

"  The  power  of  darkness,"  is  an  expression  found  in 
Luke's  Gospel  (xxii.  i8),  and  it  may  be  used  here 
as  a  reminiscence  of  our  Lord's  solemn  words. 
"  Power "  here  seems  to  imply  the  conception  of 
harsh,  arbitrary  dominion,  in  contrast  with  the  gracious 
rule  of  the  other  kingdom.  It  is  a  realm  of  cruel  and 
grinding  sway.  Its  prince  is  personified  in  an  image 
that  iEschylus  or  Dante  might  have  spoken.  Dark- 
ness sits  sovereign  there,  a  vast  and  gloomy  form  on 
•an  ebon  throne,  wielding  a  heavy  sceptre  over  wide 
regions  wrapped  in  night.  The  plain  meaning  of 
that  tremendous  metaphor  is  just  this — that  the  men 
who  are  not  Christians  live  in  a  state  of  subjection 
to  darkness  of  ignorance,  darkness  of  misery,  darkness 
of  sin.  If  I  am  not  a  Christian  man,  that  black 
three-headed  hound  of  hell  sits  baying  on  my  door- 
step. 

What  a  wonderful  contrast  the  other  kingdom  and 
its  King  present  !  "The  kingdom  of" — not  "the 
light/'  as  we  are  prepared  to  hear,  in  order  to  com- 
plete the  antithesis,  but — "  the  Son  of  His  love,"  who 
is  the  light.  The  Son  who  is  the  object  of  His  love, 
on  whom  it  all  and  ever  rests,  as  on  none  besides. 
He  has  a  kingdom  in  existence  now,  and  not  merely 
hoped  for,  and  to  be  set  up  at  some  future  time. 
Wherever  men  lovingly  obey  Christ,  there  is  His 
kingdom.  The  subjects  make  the  kingdom,  and  we 
may  to-day  belong  to  it,  and  be  free  from  all  other 
dominion  because  we  bow  to  His.  There  then  sit 
the  two  kings,  like  the  two  in  the  old  story,  "  either 
of  them  on  his  throne,  clothed  in  his  robes,  at  the 
entering  in  of  the  gate  of  the  city."  Darkness  and 
Light,  the  ebon  throne  and  the  white  throne,  sur- 
rounded each  by  their  ministers  ;  there  Sorrow  and 


CoL  1.12-14.]  THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS.  63 

G^oom,  here  Gladness  and  Hope  ;  there  Ignorance 
with  blind  eyes  and  idle  aimless  hands,  here  Know- 
ledge with  the  sunlight  on  her  face,  and  Diligence 
for  her  handmaid  ;  here  Sin,  the  pillar  of  the  gloomy 
realm,  there  Righteousness,  in  robes  so  as  no  fuller 
on  earth  could  white  them.  Under  which  king,  my 
brother  ? 

We  notice  the  transference  of  subjects.  The  sculp- 
tures on  Assyrian  monuments  explain  this  metaphor 
for  us.  A  great  conqueror  has  come,  and  speaks  to  us 
as  Sennacherib  did  to  the  Jews  (2  Kings  xviii.  31,32), 
"  Come  out  to  me  .  .  .  and  I  will  take  you  away  to 
a  land  of  corn  and  wine,  that  ye  may  live  and  not 
die." 

If  we  listen  to  His  voice.  He  will  lead  away  a 
long  string  of  willing  captives  and  plant  them,  not 
as  pining  exiles,  but  as  happy  naturalized  citizens, 
in  the  kingdom  which  the  Father  has  appointed  for 
"  the  Son  of  His  love." 

That  transference  is  effected  on  the  instant  of 
our  recognising  the  love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
yielding  up  the  heart  to  Him.  We  too  often  speak 
as  if  the  "  entrance  ministered  at  last  to"  a  believing 
soul  "  into  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour," 
were  its  first  entrance  therein,  and  forget  that  we 
enter  it  as  soon  as  we  yield  to  the  drawings  of  Christ*s 
love  and  take  service  under  the  king.  The  change 
then  is  greater  than  at  death.  When  we  die,  we 
shall  change  provinces,  and  go  from  an  outlying 
colony  to  the  mother  city  and  seat  of  empire,  but  we 
shall  not  change  kingdoms.  We  shall  be  under  the 
same  government,  only  then  we  shall  be  nearer  the 
King  and  more  loyal  to  Him.  That  change  of  king 
is  the  real  fitness  for  heaven.     We  know  little  of 


64  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CO  LOSS  I  A  NS. 

what  profound  changes  death  may  make,  but  clearly 
a  physical  change  cannot  effect  a  spiritual  revolution. 
They  who  are  not  Christ's  subjects  will  not  become 
so  by  dying.  If  here  we  are  trying  to  serve  a  King 
who  has  delivered  us  from  the  tyranny  of  darkness, 
we  may  be  very  sure  that  He  will  not  lose  His  subjects 
in  the  darkness  of  the  grave.  Let  us  choose  our 
king.  If  we  take  Christ  for  our  heart's  Lord,  every 
thought  of  Him  here,  every  piece  of  partial  obedience 
and  stained  service,  as  well  as  every  sorrow  and  every 
joy,  our  fading  possessions  and  our  undying  treasures, 
the  feeble  new  life  that  wars  against  our  sins,  and 
even  the  very  sins  themselves  as  contradictory  of 
our  deepest  self,  unite  to  seal  to  us  the  assurance, 
"Thine  eyes  shall  see  the  King  in  His  beauty. 
They  shall  behold  the  land  that  is  very  far  off." 

III.  The  heart  and  centre  of  all  occasions  for 
thankfulness  is  the  Redemption  which  we  receive  in 
Christ. 

"  In  whom  we  have  our  redemption,  the  forgiveness 
of  our  sins."  The  Authorized  Version  reads  "  redemp- 
tion through  His  bloodl^  but  these  words  are  not 
found  in  the  best  manuscripts,  and  are  regarded  by 
the  principal  modern  editors  as  having  been  inserted 
from  the  parallel  place  in  Ephesians  (i.  7),  where 
they  are  genuine.  The  very  heart  then  of  the 
blessings  which  God  has  bestowed,  is  "  redemption," 
which  consists  primarily,  though  not  wholly,  in  "  for- 
giveness of  sins,"  and  is  received  by  us  in  "  the 
Son  of  His  love." 

"  Redemption,"  in  its  simplest  meaning,  is  the  act 
of  delivering  a  slave  from  captivity  by  the  payment 
of  ransom.  So  that  it  contains  in  its  application  to 
the   effect  of  Christ's  death,  substantially  the  same 


Col. i.  12-14.]  THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS,  65 

figure  as  in  the  previous  clause  which  spoke  of  a 
deliverance  from  a  tyrant,  only  that  what  was  there 
represented  as  an  act  of  Power  is  here  set  forth  as 
the  act  of  self-sacrificing  Love  which  purchases  our 
freedom  at  a  heavy  cost.  That  ransom  price  is  said 
by  Christ  Himself  to  be  "  His  life,"  and  His  Incarna- 
tion to  have  the  paying  of  that  price  as  one  of 
its  two  chief  objects.  So  the  words  added  here  by 
quotation  from  the  companion  Epistle  are  in  full 
accordance  with  New  Testament  teaching  ;  but  even 
omitting  them,  the  meaning  of  the  clause  is  unmis- 
takable. Christ's  death  breaks  the  chains  which  bind 
us,  and  sets  us  free.  By  it  He  acquires  us  for 
Himself.  That  transcendant  act  of  sacrifice  has  such 
a  relation  to  the  Divine  government  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  the  "  sin  of  the  world,"  as  a  whole,  on 
the  other,  that  by  it  all  who  trust  in  Him  are  delivered 
from  the  most  real  penal  consequences  of  sin  and 
from  the  dominion  of  its  darkness  over  their  natures. 
We  freely  admit  that  we  cannot  penetrate  to  the 
understanding  of  how  Christ's  death  thus  avails. 
But  just  because  the  ratioiiale  of  the  doctrine  is 
avowedly  beyond  our  limits,  we  are  barred  from 
asserting  that  it  is  incompatible  with  God's  character, 
or  with  common  justice,  or  that  it  is  immoral,  and 
the  like.  When  we  know  God  through  and  through, 
to  all  the  depths  and  heights  and  lengths  and 
breadths  of  His  nature,  and  when  we  know  man  in 
like  manner,  and  when,  consequently,  we  know  the 
relation  between  God  and  man  as  perfectly,  and  not 
till  then,  we  shall  have  a  right  to  reject  the  teaching 
of  Scripture  on  this  matter,  on  such  grounds.  Till 
then,  let  our  faith  lay  hold  on  the  fact,  though  we  do 
not  understand  the  "  how "  of   the  fact,  and    cling 

5 


66  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

to  that  cross  which  is  the  great  power  of  God  unto 
salvation,  and  the  heart-changing  exponent  of  the 
love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowledge. 

The  essential  and  first  element  in  this  redemption 
is  "  the  forgiveness  of  sins."  Possibly  some  miscon- 
ception of  the  nature  of  redemption  may  have  been 
associated  with  the  other  errors  which  threatened  the 
Colossian  Church,  and  thus  Paul  may  have  been  led 
to  this  emphatic  declaration  of  its  contents.  Forgive- 
ness, and  not  some  mystic  deliverance  by  initiation 
or  otherwise  from  the  captivity  of  flesh  and  matter, 
is  redemption.  There  is  more  than  forgiveness  in 
it,  but  forgiveness  lies  on  the  threshold  ;  and  that 
not  only  the  removal  of  legal  penalties  inflicted  by 
a  specific  act,  but  the  forgiveness  of  a  father.  A 
sovereign  pardons  when  he  remits  the  sentence  which 
law  has  pronounced.  A  father  forgives  when  the 
free  flow  of  his  love  is  unhindered  by  his  child's 
fault,  and  he  may  forgive  and  punish  at  the  same 
moment.  The  truest  "  penalty  "  of  sin  is  that  death 
which  consists  in  separation  from  God  ;  and  the 
conceptions  of  judicial  pardon  and  fatherly  forgive- 
ness unite  when  we  think  of  the  "  remission  of  sins  " 
as  being  the  removal  of  that  separation,  and  the 
deliverance  of  heart  and  conscience  from  the  burden 
of  guilt  and  of  a  father's  wrath. 

Such  forgiveness  leads  to  that  full  deliverance  from 
the  power  of  darkness,  which  is  the  completion  of 
redemption.  There  is  deep  meaning  in  the  fact  that 
the  word  here  used  for  "  forgiveness,"  means  literally, 
"  sending  away."  Pardon  has  a  mighty  power  to 
banish  sin,  not  only  as  guilt,  but  as  habit.  The 
waters  of  the  gulf  stream  bear  the  warmth  of  the 
tropics  to  the  icy  north,  and  lave  the  foot  of  the 


Col. i.  12-14.]  THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS,  67 

glaciers  on  its  coast  till  they  melt  and  mingle  with 
the  liberating  waves.  So  the  flow  of  the  forgiving 
love  of  God  thaws  the  hearts  frozen  in  the  obstinacy 
of  sin,  and  blends  our  wills  with  itself  in  glad  sub- 
mission and  grateful  service. 

But  we  must  not  overlook  the  significant  words  in 
which  the  condition  of  possessing  this  redemption  is 
stated  :  "  in  Whom."  There  must  be  a  real  living 
union  with  Christ,  by  which  we  are  truly  "  in  Him" 
in  order  to  our  possession  of  redemption.  "Redemp- 
tion through  His  blood "  is  not  the  whole  message 
of  the  Gospel ;  it  has  to  be  completed  by  "  In  Whom 
we  have  redemption  through  His  blood."  That  real 
living  union  is  effected  by  our  faith,  and  when  we 
are  thus  "  in  Him,"  our  wills,  hearts,  spirits  joined 
to  Him,  then,  and  only  then  are  we  borne  away 
from  "the  kingdom  of  the  darkness"  and  partake  of 
redemption.  We  cannot  get  His  gifts  without 
Himself. 

We  observe,  in  conclusion,  how  redemption 
appears  here  as  a  present  and  growing  possession. 
There  is  emphasis  on  "  we  have"  The  Colossian 
Christians  had  by  one  definite  act  in  the  past  been 
fitted  for  a  share  in  the  inheritance,  and  by  the  same 
act  had  been  transferred  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
Already  they  possess  the  inheritance,  and  are  in  the 
kingdom,  although  both  are  to  be  more  gloriously 
manifested  in  the  future.  Here,  however,  Paul  con- 
templates rather  the  reception,  moment  by  moment, 
of  redemption.  We  might  almost  read  "we  are 
having,"  for  the  present  tense  seems  used  on  purpose 
to  convey  the  idea  of  a  continual  communication 
from  Him  to  Whom  we  are  to  be  united  by  faith. 
Daily  we   may   draw  what   we   daily   need — daily 


'68  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS, 

forgiveness  for  daily  sins,  the  washing  of  the  feet 
which  even  he  who  has  been  bathed  requires  after 
each  day's  march  through  muddy  roads,  daily  bread 
for  daily  hunger,  and  daily  strength  for  daily  effort. 
So  day  unto  day  may,  in  our  narrow  lives,  as  in  the 
wide  heavens  with  all  their  stars,  utter  speech,  and 
night  unto  night  show  knowledge  of  the  redeeming 
love  of  our  Father.  Like  the  rock  that  followed  the 
Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  according  to  Jewish 
legend,  and  poured  but  water  for  their  thirst,  His 
grace  flows  ever  by  our  sides  and  from  its  bright 
waters  we  may  daily  draw  with  joy. 

And  so  let  us  lay  to  heart  humbly  these  two 
lessons  ;  that  all  our  Christianity  must  begin  with 
forgiveness,  and  that,  however  far  advanced  we  may 
be  in  the  Divine  life,  we  never  get  beyond  the  need 
for  a  continual  bestowal  upon  us  of  God's  pardoning 
mercy. 

Many  of  us,  like  some  of  these  Colossians,  are 
ready  to  call  ourselves  in  some  sense  followers  of 
Christ.  The  speculative  side  of  Christian  truth  may 
have  attractions  for  some  of  us,  its  lofty  morality  for 
others.  Some  of  us  may  be  mainly  drawn  to  it  by 
its  comforts  for  the  weary  ;  some  may  be  looking  to 
it  chiefly  in  hope  of  a  future  heaven.  But  whatever 
we  are,  and  however  we  may  be  disposed  to  Christ 
and  His  Gospel,  here  is  a  plain  message  for  us ;  we 
must  begin  by  going  to  Him  for  pardon.  It  is  not 
enough  for  any  of  us  to  find  in  Him  "wisdom,"  or 
even  "  righteousness,"  for  we  need  "  redemption " 
which  is  "  forgiveness,"  and  unless  He  is  to  us 
forgiveness,  He  will  not  be  either  righteousness  or 
wisdom. 

We  can   climb   a  ladder  that  reaches  to  heaven, 


Col. i.  12-14]  THE  FATHER'S  GIFTS,  69 

but  its  foot  must  be  in  "  the  horrible  pit  and  miry 
clay "  of  our  sins.  Little  as  we'  like  to  hear  it, 
the  first  need  for  us  all  is  forgiveness.  Everything 
begins  with  that.  "  The  inheritance  of  the  saints," 
with  all  its  wealth  of  glory,  its  immortal  life  and 
unfading  joys,  its  changeless  security,  and  its  un- 
ending progress  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  light 
and  likeness  of  God,  is  the  goal,  but  the  only  entrance 
is  through  the  strait  gate  of  penitence.  Christ  will 
forgive  on  our  cry  for  pardon,  and  that  is  the  first 
link  of  a  golden  chain  unwinding  from  His  hand 
by  which  we  may  ascend  to  the  perfect  possession 
of  our  inheritance  in  God.  "Whom  He  justified, 
them,"  and  them  only,  He  will  glorify. 


V. 

THE  GLORY  OF  THE  SON  IH  HIS  RELATION  TO  THE 
FATHER,    THE   UNIVERSE  AND  THE  CHURCH 

"Who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  firstborn  of  all  creation  ; 
for  in  Him  were  all  things  created,  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth, 
things  visible  and  things  invisible,  whether  thrones  or  dominions  or 
principalities  or  powers,  all  things  have  been  created  through  Him  and 
unto  Him  ;  and  He  is  before  all  things,  and  in  Him  all  things  consist. 
And  He  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the  church :  who  is  the  beginning,  the 
firstborn  from  the  dead ;  that  in  all  things  He  might  have  the  pre- 
eminence."— Col.  L  15-18  (Rev.  Ver.). 

AS  has  already  been  remarked,  the  Colossian 
Church  was  troubled  by  teachers  who  had 
grafted  on  Jewish  belief  many  of  the  strange  specu- 
lations about  matter  and  creation  which  have  always 
had  such  a  fascination  for  the  Eastern  mind.  To  us, 
they  are  apt  to  seem  empty  dreams,  baseless  and 
bewildering ;  but  they  had  force  enough  to  shake  the 
early  Church  to  its  foundation,  and  in  some  forms 
they  still  live. 

These  teachers  in  Colossse  seem  to  have  held  that 
all  matter  was  evil  and  the  seat  of  sin  ;  that  therefore 
the  material  creation  could  not  have  come  directly 
from  a  good  God,  but  was  in  a  certain  sense  opposed 
to  Him,  or,  at  all  events,  was  separated  from  Him 
by  a  great  gulf.  The  void  space  was  bridged  by  a 
'^  chain  of  beings,  half  abstractions  and  half  persons, 
gradually  becoming  more  and  more  material.  The 
lowest  of  them  had  created  the  material  universe  and 


Col.  i.  I5-I8.]        THE  GLORY  OF  THE  SON,  71 

now  governed  it,  and  all  were  to  be  propitiated  by- 
worship. 

Some  such  opinions  must  be  presupposed  in  order 
to  give  point  and  force  to  these  great  verses  in  which 
Paul  opposes  the  solid  truth  to  these  dreams,  and 
instead  of  a  crowd  of  Powers  and  angelic  Beings,  in 
whom  the  effulgence  of  Deity  was  gradually  dark- 
ened, and  the  spirit  became  more  and  more  thickened 
into  matter,  lifts  high  and  clear  against  that  back- 
ground of  fable,  the  solitary  figure  of  the  one  Christ. 
He  fills  all  the  space  between  God  andjtrian^  There 
is  no  need  for  a  crowd  of  shadowy  beings  to  link 
heaven  with  earth.  Jesus  Christ  lays  His  hand  upon 
both.  He  is  the  head  and  source  of  creation  ;  He  is 
the  head  and  fountain  of  life  to  His  Church.  There- 
fore He  is  first  in  all  things,  to  be  listened  to,  loved 
and  worshipped  by  men.  As  when  the  full  moon 
rises,  so  when  Christ  appears,  all  the  lesser  stars  with 
which  Alexandrian  and  Eastern  speculation  had 
peopled  the  abysses  of  the  sky  are  lost  in  the  mellow 
radiance,  and  instead  of  a  crowd  of  flickering  in- 
effectual lights  there  is  one  perfect  orb,  "  and  heaven 
is  overflowed."  "  We  see  no  creature  any  more  save 
Jesus  only." 

We  have  outgrown  the  special  forms  of  error 
which  afflicted  the  Church  at  Colossae,  but  the  truths 
which  are  here  set  over  against  them  are  eternal,  and 
are  needed  to-day  in  our  conflicts  of  opinion  as  much 
as  then.  There  are  here  three  grand  conceptions  of 
Christ's  relations.  We  have  Christ  and  God,  Christ 
and  Creation,  Christ  and  the  Church,  and,  built  upon 
all  these,  the  triumphant  proclamation  of  His  supre- 
macy over  all  creatures  in  all  respects. 

I.  We  have  the  relation  of  Christ  to  God  set  forth 


72  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS. 

in  these  grand  words,  "  the  image  of  the    invisible 
God." 

Apparently  Paul  is  here  using  for  his  own  purposes 
language  which  was  familiar  on  the  lips  of  his  an- 
tagonists. We  know  that  Alexandrian  Judaism  had 
much  to  say  about  the  "  Word,"  and  spoke  of  it  as 
the  Image  of  God  :  and  probably  some  such  teaching 
had  found  its  way  to  Colossae.  An  "  image "  is  a 
likeness  or  representation,  as  of  a  king's  head  on  a 
coin,  or  of  a  face  reflected  in  a  mirror.  Here  it  is 
that  which  makes  the  invisible  visible.  The  God 
who  dwells  in  the  thick  darkness,  remote  from  sense 
and  above  thought,  has  come  forth  and  made  Him- 
self known  to  man,  even  in  a  very  real  way  has  come 
within  the  reach  of  man's  senses,  in  the  manhood  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Where  then  is  there  a  place  for  the 
shadowy  abstractions  and  emanations  with  which 
some  would  bind  together  God  and  man  ? 

The  first  thought  involved  in  this  statement  is, 
that  the  Divine  Being  in  Himself  is  inconceivable 
and  unapproachable.  "  No  man  hath  seen  God  at 
any  time  nor  can  see  Him."  Not  only  is  He  beyond 
the  reach  of  sense,  but  above  the  apprehension  of 
the  understanding.  Direct  and  immediate  knowledge 
of  Him  is  impossible.  There  may  be,  there  is, 
written  on  every  human  spirit  a  dim  consciousness 
of  His  presence,  but  that  is  not  knowledge.  Creatural 
limitations  prevent  it,  and  man's  sin  prevents  it. 
He  is  "  the  King  invisible,"  because  He  is  the 
"  Father  of  Lights  "  dwelling  in  "  a  glorious  privacy 
of  light,"  which  is  to  us  darkness  because  there  is  in 
it  "  no  darkness  at  all." 

Then,  the  next  truth  included  here  is,  that 
Christ  is  the  perfect    manifestation    and    image  of 


Col.  i.  I5-I8.]        THE  GLORY  OF  THE  SON.  73 

God.  In  Him  we  have  the  invisible  becoming 
visible.  Through  Him  we  know  all  that  we  know 
of  God,  as  distinguished  from  what  we  guess  or 
imagine  or  suspect  of  Him.  On  this  high  theme,  it 
is  not  wise  to  deal  much  in  the  scholastic  lan- 
guage of  systems  and  creeds.  Few  words,  and  these 
mainly  His  own,  are  best,  and  he  is  least  likely 
to  speak  wrongly  who  confines  himself  most  to 
Scripture  in  his  presentation  of  the  truth.  All  the 
great  streams  of  teaching  in  the  New  Testament 
concur  in  the  truth  which  Paul  here  proclaims. 
The  conception  in  John's  Gospel  of  the  Word  which 
is  the  utterance  and  making  audible  of  the  Divine 
mind,  the  conceptions  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
of  the  effulgence  or  forthshining  of  God's  glory,  and 
the  very  image,  or  stamped  impress  of  His  substance, 
are  but  other  modes  of  representing  the  same  facts 
of  full  likeness  and  complete  manifestation,  which 
Paul  here  asserts  by  calling  the  man  Christ  Jesus, 
the  image  of  the  Invisible  God.  The  same  thoughts 
are  involved  in  the  name  by  which  our  Lord  called 
Himself,  the  Son  of  God ;  and  they  cannot  be 
separated  from  many  words  of  His,  such  as  "  he 
that  hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father."  In  Him 
the  Divine  nature  comes  near  to  us  in  a  form  that 
once  could  be  grasped  in  part  by  men's  senses,  for 
it  was  "  that  of  the  Word  of  life  "  which  they  saw 
with  their  eyes  and  their  hands  handled,  and  which 
is  to-day  and  for  ever  a  form  that  can  be  grasped 
by  mind  and  heart  and  will.  In  Christ  we  have  the 
revelation  of  a  God  who  can  be  known,  and  loved, 
and  trusted,  with  a  knowledge  which,  though  it  be 
not  complete,  is  real  and  valid,  with  a  love  which  is 
solid  enough  to  be  the  foundation  of  a  life,  with  a 


74  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 

trust  which  is  conscious  that  it  has  touched  rock 
and  builds  secure.  Nor  is  that  fact  that  He  is  the 
revealer  of  God,  one  that  began  with  His  incarnation, 

^ox  ends  with  His  earthly  life.  From  the  beginning 
and  before  the  creatural  beginning,  as  we  shall  see 
in  considering  another  part  of  these  great  verses,  the 
Word  was  the  agent  of  all  Divine  activity,  the  "  arm 
of  the  Lord,"  and  the  source  of  all  Divine  illumina- 
tion, "the  face  of  the  Lord,"  or,  as  we  have  the 
thought  put  in  the  remarkable  words  of  the  Book 
of  Proverbs,  where  the  celestial  and  pure  Wisdom  is 
more  than  a  personification  though  not  yet  distinctly 
conceived  as  a  person,  "  The  Lord  possessed  me  in 
the  beginning  of  His  way.  I  was  by  Him  as  one 
brought  up — or  as  a  master  worker — with  Him, 
and  I  was  daily  His  delight  .  .  .  and  My  delights 
were  with  the  sons  of  men."  And  after  the  veils  of 
flesh  and  sense  are  done  away,  and  we  see  face  to 
face,  I  believe  that  the  face  which  we  shall  see,  and 
seeing,  shall  have  beauty  born  of  the  vision  passing 
into  our  faces,  will  be  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  in 
which  the  light  of  the  glory  of  God  shall  shine  for 
the  redeemed  and  perfected  sons  of  God,  even  as  it 
did  for  them  when  they  groped  amid  the  shows  of 
earth.  The  law  for  time  and  for  eternity  is,  "  I  have 
declared  Thy  name  unto  My  brethren  and  will 
declare  it."  That  great  fathomless,  shoreless  ocean 
j^of  the  Divine  nature  is  like  a  "  closed  sea  " — Christ 
is  the  broad  river  which  brings  its  waters  to  men,  and 
"everything  liveth  whithersoever  the  river  cometh." 

In  these  brief  words  on  so  mighty  a  matter,  I 
must  run  the  risk  of  appearing  to  deal  in  unsupported 
statements.      My  business  is  not  so  much  to  try  to 

'^  prove  Paul's  words  as  to  explain  them,  and  then  to 


Col.  i.  iS-i8.]        THE   GLORY  OF  THE  SON.  75 

press  them  home.  Therefore  I  would  urge  that 
thought,  that  we  depend  on  Christ  for  all  true  know- 
ledge of  God.  Guesses  are  not  knowledge.  Specu- 
lations are  not  knowledge.  Peradventures,  whether 
of  hope  or  fear,  are  not  knowledge.  What  we  poor 
men  need,  is  a  certitude  of  a  God  who  loves  us  and 
cares  for  us,  has  an  arm  that  can  help  us,  and  a 
heart  that  will.  The  God  of  "  pure  theism  "  is  little 
better  than  a  phantom,  so  unsubstantial  that  you 
can  see  the  stars  shining  through  the  pale  form,  and 
when  a  man  tries  to  lean  on  him  for  support,  it  is 
like  leaning  on  a  wreath  of  mist.  There  is  nothing. 
There  is  no  certitude  firm  enough  for  us  to  find 
sustaining  power  against  life's  trials  in  resting  upon 
it,  but  in  Christ  There  is  no  warmth  of  love  enough 
for  us  to  thaw  our  frozen  limbs  by,  apart  from  Christ. 
In  Him,  and  in  Him  alone,  the  far  off,  awful,  doubt- 
ful God  becomes  a  God  very  near,  of  Whom  we  are 
sure,  and  sure  that  He  loves  and  is  ready  to  help 
and  cleanse  and  save. 

And  that  is  what  we  each  need.  "  My  soul  crieth 
out  for  God,  for  the  living  God."  And  never  will 
that  orphaned  cry  be  answered,  but  in  the  possession 
of  Christ,  in  Whom  we  possess  the  Father  also.  No 
dead  abstractions — no  reign  of  law — ^still  less  the 
dreary  proclamation,  "  Behold  we  know  not  anything," 
least  of  all,  the  pottage  of  material  good,  will  hush 
that  bitter  wail  that  goes  up  unconsciously  from 
many  an  Esau's  heart — "  My  father,  my  father  !  " 
Men  will  find  Him  in  Christ.  They  will  find  Him 
nowhere  else.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  only  refuge 
for  this  generation  from  atheism — if  it  is  still  allowable 
to  use  that  unfashionable  word — is  the  acceptance  of 
Christ  as  the  revealer  of  God.     On  any  other  terms 


76  THE^  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

religion  is  rapidly  becoming  impossible  for  the  cul- 
tivated class.  The  great  word  which  Paul  opposed  to 
the  cobwebs  of  Gnostic  speculation  is  the  word  for 
our  own  time  with  all  its  perplexities — Christ  is  the 
Image  of  the  Invisible  God. 

II.  We  have  the  relation  of  Christ  to  Creation  set 
forth  in  that  great  name,  "the  firstborn  of  all  creation," 
and  further  elucidated  by  a  magnificent  series  of 
statements  which  proclaim  Him  to  be  agent  or 
medium,  and  aim  or  goal  of  creation,  prior  to  it  in 
time  and  dignity,  and  its  present  upholder  and  bond 
of  unity. 

"The  firstborn  of  all  creation."  At  first  sight, 
this  name  seems  to  include  Him  in  the  great  family 
of  creatures  as  the  eldest,  and  clearly  to  treat  Him 
as  one  of  them,  just  because  He  is  declared  to  be  in 
some  sense  the  first  of  them.  That  meaning  has 
been  attached  to  the  words ;  but  it  is  shown  not  to 
be  their  intention  by  the  language  of  the  next  verse, 
which  is  added  to  prove  and  explain  the  title.  It 
distinctly  alleges  that  Christ  was  "  before  "  all  creation, 
and  that  He  is  the  agent  of  all  creation.  To  insist 
that  the  words  must  be  explained  so  as  to  include 
Him  in  "  creation  "  would  be  to  go  right  in  the  teeth 
of  the  Apostle's  own  justification  and  explanation  of 
them.  So  that  the  true  meaning  is  that  He  is  the 
firstborn,  in  comparison  with,  or  in  reference  to,  all 
creation.  Such  an  understanding  of  the  force  of  the 
expression  is  perfectly  allowable  grammatically,  and 
is  necessary  unless  this  verse  is  to  be  put  in  violent 
contradiction  to  the  next.  The  same  construction 
is  found  in  Milton's 

"  Adam,  the  goodliest  man  of  men  since  born, 
His  sons,  the  fairest  of  her  daughters,  Eve." 


Col.  i.  iS-iS.]        THE  GLORY  OF  THE  SON.  77 

where  "  of "  distinctly  means  "  in  comparison  with," 
and   not  "  belonging  to." 

The  title  implies  priority  in  existence,  and  supre- 
macy. It  substantially  means  the  same  thing  as  the 
other  title  of  "  the  only  begotten  Son,"  only  that  the 
latter  brings  into  prominence  the  relation  of  the  Son 
to  the  Father,  while  the  former  lays  stress  on  His 
relation  to  Creation.  Further  it  must  be  noted,  that 
this  name  applies  to  the  Eternal  Word  and  not  to 
the  incarnation  of  that  Word,  or  to  put  it  in  another 
form,  the  divinity  and  not  the  humanity  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  is  in  the  Apostle's  view.  Such  is  the  briefest 
outline  of  the  meaning  of  this  great  name. 

A  series  of  clauses  follow,  stating  more  fully  the 
relation  of  the  firstborn  Son  to  Creation,  and  so 
confirming  and  explaining  the  title. 

The  whole  universe  is,  as  it  were,  set  in  one  class, 
and  He  alone  over  against  it.  No  language  could 
be  more  emphatically  all -comprehensive.  Four  times 
in  one  sentence  we  have  "  all  things " — the  whole 
universe — repeated,  and  traced  to  Him  as  Creator 
and  Lord.  "  In  the  heavens  and  the  earth "  is 
quoted  from  Genesis,  and  is  intended  here,  as  there, 
to  be  an  exhaustive  enumeration  of  the  creation 
according  to  place.  "  Things  visible  or  invisible " 
again  includes  the  whole  under  a  new  principle  of 
division — there  are  visible  things  in  heaven,  as  sun 
and  stars,  there  may  be  invisible  on  earth,  but 
wherever  and  of  whatever  sort  they  are.  He  made 
them.  "Whether  thrones  or  dominions,  or  princi- 
palities or  powers,"  an  enumeration  evidently  alluding 
to  the  dreamy  speculations  about  an  angelic  hierarchy 
filling  the  space  between  the  far  off  God,  and  men 
immersed  in  matter.     There  is  a  tone  of  contemp- 


78  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

tuous  impatience  in  Paul's  voice,  as  he  quotes  the 
pompous  list  of  sonorous  titles  which  a  busy  fancy 
had  coined.  It  is  as  if  he  had  said,  You  are  being 
told  a  great  deal  about  these  angel  hierarchies,  and 
know  all  about  their  ranks  and  gradations.  I  do 
not  know  anything  about  them  ;  but  this  I  know, 
that  if,  amid  the  unseen  things  in  the  heavens  or  the 
earth,  there  be  any  such,  my  Lord  made  them,  and 
is  their  master.  So  he  groups  together  the  whole 
universe  of  created  beings,  actual  or  imaginary,  and 
then  high  above  it,  separate  from  it,  its  Lord  and 
Creator,  its  upholder  and  end,  he  points  to  the 
majestic  person  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God, 
His  Firstborn,  higher  than  all  the  rulers  of  the  earth, 
whether  human  or  superhuman. 

The  language  employed  brings  into  strong  relief 
the  manifold  variety  of  relations  which  the  Son 
sustains  to  the  universe,  by  the  variety  of  the 
prepositions  used  in  the  sentence.  The  whole  sum 
of  created  things  (for  the  Greek  means  not  only 
"  all  things,"  but  "  all  things  considered  as  a  unity  ") 
was  in  the  original  act,  created  in  Him,  through 
Him,  and  unto  Him.  The  first  of  these  words,  "  in 
Him,"  regards  Him  as  the  creative  centre,  as  it 
were,  or  element  in  which  as  in  a  storehouse  or 
reservoir  all  creative  force  resided,  and  was  in  a 
definite  act  put  forth.  The  thought  may  be  parallel 
with  that  in  the  prologue  to  John's  Gospel,  "  In  Him 
was  life."  The  Word  stands  to  the  universe  as  the 
incarnate  Christ  does  to  the  Church  ;  and  as  all 
spiritual  life  is  in  Him,  and  union  to  Him  is  its 
condition,  so  all  physical  takes  its  origin  within 
the  deptl'is  of  His  Divine  nature.  The  error  of  the 
Gnostics  was  to  put  the   act  of  creation  and  the 


Col.  i.  1 5- 1 8.]        THE  GLORY  OF  THE  SON:  ^         79 

thing  created,  as  far  away  as  possible  from  God,  and 
it  h  met  by  this  remarkable  expression,  which  brings 
creation  and  the  creatures  in  a  very  real  sense  with- 
in the  confines  of  the  Divine  nature,  as  manifested 
\n  the  Word,  and  asserts  the  truth  of  which  pantheism 
s<^  called  is  the  exaggeration,  that  all  things  are  in 
Hioi,  like  seeds  in  a  seed  vessel,  while  yet  they  are 
not  identified  with  Him. 

The  possible  dangers  of  that  profound  truth, 
which  has  always  been  more  in  harmony  with 
Eastern  than  with  Western  modes  of  thought,  are 
averted  by  the  next  preposition  used,  "  all  things 
have  been  created  through  Him."  That  presupposes 
the  full,  clear  demarcation  between  creature  and 
creator,  and  so  on  the  one  hand  extricates  the 
person  of  the  Firstborn  of  all  creation  from  all  risk  of 
being  confounded  with  the  universe,  while  on  the  other 
it  emphasizes  the  thought  that  He  is  the  medium 
of  the  Divine  energy,  and  so  brings  into  clear  relief 
His  relation  to  the  inconceivable  Divine  nature.  He 
is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  and  accordingly, 
through  Him  have  all  things  been  created.  The 
same  connection  of  ideas  is  found  in  the  parallel 
passage  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where  the 
words,  "  through  Whom  also  He  made  the  worlds," 
stand  in  immediate  connection  with  "  being  the 
effulgence  of  His  glory." 

But  there  remains  yet  another  relation  between 
Him  and  the  act  of  creation.  "  For  Him "  they 
have  been  made.  All  things  come  from  and  tend 
towards  Him.  He  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega, 
the  beginning  and  the  ending.  All  things  spring 
from  His  will,  draw  their  being  from  that  fountain, 
and    return    thither   again.     These   relations    which 


8o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

are  here  declared  of  the  Son,  are  in  more  than 
one  place  declared  of  the  Father.  Do  we  face  the 
question  fairly — what  theory  of  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ  explains  that  fact  ? 

But  further,  His  existence  before  the  whole 
creation  is  repeated,  with  a  force  in  both  the 
words,  "  He  is,"  which  can  scarcely  be  given  in 
English.  The  former  is  emphatic — He  Himself — 
and  the  latter  emphasizes  not  only  pre-existence, 
but  absolute  existence.  "  He  was  before  all  things  " 
would  not  have  said  so  much  as  "He  is  before  all 
things."  We  are  reminded  of  His  own  words, 
"  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am." 

"In  Him  all  things  consist"  or  hold  together. 
He  is  the  element  in  which  takes  place  and  by 
which  is  caused  that  continued  creation  which  is  the 
preservation  of  the  universe,  as  He  is  the  element 
in  which  the  original  creative  act  took  place  of  old. 
All  things  came  into  being  and  form  an  ordered 
unity  in  Him.  He  links  all  creatures  and  forces  into 
a  co-operant  whole,  reconciling  their  antagonisms, 
drawing  all  their  currents  into  one  great  tidal  wave, 
melting  all  their  notes  into  music  which  God  can 
hear,  however  discordant  it  may  sometimes  sound 
to  us.  He  is  "  the  bond  of  perfectness,"  the  key- 
stone of  the  arch,  the  centre  of  the  wheel. 

Such,  then,  in  merest  outline  is  the  Apostle's 
teaching  about  the  Eternal  Word  and  the  Universe. 
What  sweetness  and  what  reverential  awe  such 
thoughts  should  cast  around  the  outer  world  and  the 
providences  of  life  !  How  near  they  should  bring 
Jesus  Christ  to  us !  What  a  wonderful  thought 
that  is,  that  the  whole  course  of  human  affairs  and 
of  natural   processes  is  direct*^d  by  Him  who  died 


Col.  i.  IS-I8.]        THE  GLORY  OF  THE  SON,  %\ 

upon  the  cross  !  The  helm  of  the  universe  is  held 
by  the  hands  which  were  pierced  for  us.  The  Lord 
of  Nature  and  the  Mover  of  all  things  is  that  Saviour 
on  whose  love  we  may  pillow  our  aching  heads. 

We  need  these  lessons  to-day,  when  many  teachers 
are  trying  hard  to  drive  all  that  is  spiritual  and 
Divine  out  of  creation  and  history,  and  to  set  up  a 
merciless  law  as  the  only  God.  Nature  is  terrible 
and  stern  sometimes,  and  the  course  of  events  can 
inflict  crushing  blows  ;  but  we  have  not  the  added 
horror  of  thinking  both  to  be  controlled  by  no  will. 
Christ  is  King  in  either  region,  and  with  our  elder 
brother  for  the  ruler  of  the  land,  we  shall  not  lack 
corn  in  our  sacks,  nor  a  Goshen  to  dwell  in.  We 
need  not  people  the  void,  as  these  old  heretics  did, 
with  imaginary  forms,  nor  with  impersonal  forces 
and  laws — nor  need  we,  as  so  many  are  doing  to- 
day, wander  through  its  many  mansions  as  through 
a  deserted  house,  finding  nowhere  a  Person  who 
welcomes  us  ;  for  everywhere  we  may  behold  our 
Saviour,  and  out  of  every  storm  and  every  solitude 
hear  His  voice  across  the  darkness  saying,  "  It  is  I  ; 
be  not  afraid." 

III.  The  last  of  the  relations  set  forth  in  this 
great  section  is  that  between  Christ  and  His  Church. 
"  He  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the  Church  ;  who  is 
the  beginning,  the  firstborn  from  the  dead." 

A  parallel  is  plainly  intended  to  be  drawn  between 
Christ's  relation  to  the  material  creation  and  to  the 
Church,  the  spiritual  creation.  As  the  Word  of 
>  God  before  incarnation  is  to  the  universe,  so  is  the 
incarnate  Christ  to  the  Church.  As  in  the  former, 
He  is  prior  in  time  and  superior  in  dignity,  so  is  He 
in  the  latter.     As  in  the  universe  He  is  source  and 

6 


82  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLO  SSI ANS. 

origin  of  all  being,  so  in  the  Church  He  is  the 
beginning,  both  as  being  first  and  as  being  origin  of 
all  spiritual  life.  As  the  glowing  words  which  de- 
scribed His  relation  to  creation  began  with  the  great 
title  "  the  Firstborn,"  so  those  which  describe  His 
relation  to  the  Church  close  with  the  same  name  in 
a  different  application.  Thus  the  two  halves  of  His 
work  are  as  it  were  moulded  into  a  golden  circle, 
and  the  end  of  the  description  bends  round  towards 
the  beginning. 

Briefly,  then,  we  have  here  first,  Christ  the  head, 
and  the  Church  His  body.  In  the  lower  realm  the 
Eternal  Word  was  the  power  which  held  all  things 
together,  and  similar  but  higher  in  fashion  is  the 
relation  between  Him  and  the  whole  multitude  of 
believing  souls.  Popular  physiology  regards  the 
head  as  the  seat  of  life.  So  the  fundamental  idea 
in  the  familiar  metaphor,  when  applied  to  our  Lord 
is  that  of  the  source  of  the  mysterious  spiritual  life 
which  flows  from  Him  into  all  the  members,  and  is 
sight  in  the  eye,  strength  in  the  arm,  swiftness  in  the 
foot,  colour  in  the  cheek,  being  richly  various  in  its 
manifestations  but  one  in  its  nature,  and  all  His. 
The  same  mysterious  derivation  of  life  from  Him  is 
taught  in  His  own  metaphor  of  the  Vine,  in  which 
every  branch,  however  far  away  from  the  root,  lives 
J  by  the  common  life  circulating  through  all,  which 
cHngs  in  the  tendrils,  and  reddens  in  the  clusters, 
and  is  not  theirs  though  it  be  in  them. 

That  thought  of  the  source  of  life  leads  necessar/ly 
to  the  other,  that  He  is  the  centre  of  unity,  by  Whom 
the  "  many  members  "  become  "  one  body,"  and  the 
maze  of  branches  one  vine.  The  "head,"  too, 
naturally  comes  to  be  the  symbol  for  authority— 


Col.  i.  IS- 1 8.]        THE  GLORY  OF  THE  SO  17.  83 

and  these  three  ideas  of  seat  of  life,  centre  of  unity, 
^and  emblem  of  absolute  power,  appear  to  be  those 
principally  meant   here. 

Christ  is  further  the  beginning  to  the  Church.  In 
the  natural  world  He  was  before  all,  and  source  of 
all.  The  same  double  idea  is  contained  in  this  name, 
"  the  Beginning,"  It  does  not  merely  mean  the 
first  member  of  a  series  who  begins  it,  as  the  first 
link  in  a  chain  does,  but  it  means  the  power  which 
>  causes  the  series  to  begin.  The  root  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  flowers  which  blow  in  succession  through 
the  plant's  flowering  time,  though  we  may  also  call 
the  first  flower  of  the  number  the  beginning.  But 
Christ  is  root  ;  not  merely  the  first  flower,  though 
He  is  also  that. 

He  is  head  and  beginning  to  His  Church  by  means 
of  His  resurrection.  He  is  the  firstborn  from  the 
dead,  and  His  communication  of  spiritual  life  to 
His  Church  requires  the  historical  fact  of  His  resur- 
rection as  its  basis,  for  a  dead  Christ  could  not  be 
the  source  of  life  ;  and  that  resurrection  completes 
the  manifestation  of  the  incarnate  Word,  by  our 
faith  in  which,  His  spiritual  life  flows  into  our  spirits. 
Unless  He  has  risen  from  the  dead,  all  His  claims 
to  be  anything  else  than  a  wise  teacher  and  fair 
character  crumble  into  nothing,  and  to  think  of  Him 
as  a  source  of  life  is  impossible. 

He  is  the  beginning  through  His  resurrection,  too, 
in  regard  of  His  raising  us  from  the  dead.  He  is  the 
first-fruits  of  them  that  slept,  and  bears  the  promise 
of  a  mighty  harvest.  He  has  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  therein  we  have  not  only  the  one  demonstration 
for  the  world  that  there  is  a  life  after  death,  but  the 
irrefragable  assurance  to  the  Church  that  because  He 


84  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

lives  it  shall  live  also.  A  dead  body  and  a  living 
^  head  cannot  be.  We  are  knit  to  Him  too  closely 
for  the  Fury  "  with  the  abhorred  shears  "  to  cut  the 
thread.  He  has  risen  that  He  might  be  the  first- 
born  among  many  brethren. 

So  the  Apostle  concludes  that  in  all  things  He 
is  first — and  all  things  are,  that  He  may  be  first. 
Whether  in  nature  or  in  grace,  that  pre-eminence  is 
absolute  and  supreme.  The  end  of  all  the  majesty 
of  creation  and  of  all  the  wonders  of  grace  is  that 
His  solitary  figure  may  stand  clearly  out  as  centre 
and  lord  of  the  universe,  and  His  name  be  lifted 
high  over  all. 

So  the  question  of  questions  for  us  all  is.  What 
think  ye  of  Christ  t  Our  thoughts  now  have  neces- 
sarily been  turned  to  subjects  which  may  have  seemed 
abstract  and  remote — but  these  truths  which  we 
have  been  trying  to  make  clear  and  to  present  in 
their  connection,  are  not  the  mere  terms  or  proposi- 
tions of  a  half  mystical  theology  far  away  from  our 
daily  life,  but  bear  most  gravely  and  directly  on  our 
deepest  interests.  I  would  fain  press  on  every  con- 
science the  sharp-pointed  appeal — What  is  this 
Christ  to  us  }  Is  He  any  thing  to  us  but  a  name  t 
Do  our  hearts  leap  up  with  a  joyful  Amen  when 
we  read  these  great  words  of  this  text.  Are  we 
ready  to  crown  Him  Lord  of  all  ?  Is  He  our  head, 
to  fill  us  with  vitality,  to  inspire  and  to  command  } 
Is  He  the  goal  and  the  end  of  our  individual  life  ? 
Can  we  each  say — I  live  by  Him,  in  Him,  and  for 
Him  ? 

Happy  are  we,  if  we  give  to  Christ  the  pre- 
eminence, and  if  our  hearts  set  "  Him  first,  Him  last, 
Him  midst  and  without  end." 


VI. 

THE  RECONCILING  SON. 

"  For  it  vas  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father  that  in  Him  should  all 
the  fulness  dwell ;  and  through  Him  to  reconcile  all  things  unto  Him- 
self, having  made  peace  through  the  blood  of  His  cross;  through  Him, 
I say^  whether  things  upon  the  earth,  or  things  in  the  heavens.  And 
you,  being  in  time  past  alienated  and  enemies  in  your  mind  in  your  evil 
works,  yet  now  hath  He  reconciled  in  the  body  of  His  flesh  through 
death."— Col.  i.  19-22  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THESE  words  correspond  to  those  which  im- 
mediately precede  them,  inasmuch  as  they 
present  the  same  sequence,  and  deal  with  Christ  in 
His  relation  to  God,  to  the  universe,  and  to  the 
Church.  The  strata  of  thought  are  continuous,  and 
lie  here  in  the  same  order  as  we  found  them  there. 
There  we  had  set  forth  the  work  of  the  pre-incarnate 
Word  as  well  as  of  the  incarnate  Christ  ;  here  we 
have  mainly  the  reconciling  power  of  His  cross  pro- 
claimed as  reaching  to  every  corner  of  the  universe, 
and  as  culminating  in  its  operations  on  the  believing 
souls  to  whom  Paul  speaks.  There  we  had  the  fact 
that  He  was  the  image  of  God  laid  as  basis  of  His 
relation  to  men  and  creatures  ;  here  that  fact  itself 
apprehended  in  somewhat  different  manner,  namely, 
as  the  dwelling  in  Him  of  all  "  fulness,"  is  traced  to 
its  ground  in  the  "  good  pleasure  "  of  the  Father,  and 
the  same  Divine  purpose  is  regarded  as  underlying 
Christ's  whole  reconciling  work.     We  observe,  also. 


86  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

that  all  this  section  with  which  we  have  now  to  deal 
is  given  as  the  explanation  and  reason  of  Christ's 
pre-eminence.  These  are  the  principal  links  of 
connection  with  the  previous  words,  and  having  noted 
them,  we  may  proceed  to  attempt  some  imperfect 
consideration  of  the  overwhelming  thoughts  here 
contained. 

I.  As  before,  we  have  Christ  in  relation  to  God. 
"  It  was  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father  that  in  Him 
should  all  the  fulness  dwell." 

Now,  we  may  well  suppose  from  the  use  of  the 
word  "  fulness "  here,  which  we  know  to  have  been 
a  very  important  term  in  later  full-blown  Gnostic 
speculations,  that  there  is  a  reference  to  some  of  the 
heretical  teachers'  expressions,  but  such  a  supposition 
is  not  needed  either  to  explain  the  meaning,  or  to 
account  for  the  use  of  the  word. 

"  The  fulness  " — what  fulness  ?  I  think,  although 
it  has  been  disputed,  that  the  language  of  the  next 
chapter  (ii.  9),  where  we  read  "In  Him  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  should  settle 
that. 

It  seems  most  improbable  that  with  two  out  of 
three  significant  words  the  same,  the  ellipse  should 
be  supplied  by  anything  but  the  third.  The  mean- 
ing then  will  be — the  whole  abundance,  or  totality 
of  Divine  powers  and  attributes.  That  is,  to  put  it 
in  homelier  words,  that  all  that  Divine  nature  in  all 
its  sweet  greatness,  in  all  its  infinite  wealth  of  tender- 
ness and  power  and  wisdom,  is  embodied  in  Jesus 
Christ.  We  have  no  need  to  look  to  heavens  above 
or  to  earth  beneath  for  fragmentary  revelations  of 
God's  character  We  have  no  need  to  draw  doubtful 
inferences  as  to  what  God  is  from  the  questionable 


CoL  i.  19-32.]  THE  RECONCILING  SON,  87 

teachings  of  nature,  or  from  the  mysteries  of  human 
history  with  its  miseries.  No  doubt  these  do  show 
something  of  Him  to  observant  hearts,  and  most  to 
those  who  have  the  key  to  their  meaning  by  their 
faith  in  a  clearer  revelation.  At  sundry  times  and 
in  divers  manners,  God  has  spoken  to  the  world  by 
these  partial  voices,  to  each  of  which  some  syllables 
of  His  name  have  been  committed.  But  He  has  put 
His  whole  name  in  that  messenger  of  a  New  Covenant 
by  whom  He  has  finally  declared  His  whole  character 
to  us,  even  His  Son,  in  whom  "  it  was  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  Father  that  all  the  fulness  should 
dwell." 

The  word  rendered  "  dwell  "  implies  a  permanent 
abode,  and  may  have  been  chosen  in  order  to  oppose 
a  view  which  we  know  to  have  prevailed  later,  and 
may  suspect  to  have  been  beginning  to  appear  thus 
early,  namely,  that  the  union  of  the  Divine  and  the 
human  in  the  person  of  Christ  was  but  temporary. 
At  all  events,  emphasis  is  placed  here  on  the  opposite 
truth  that  that  indwelling  does  not  end  with  the 
earthly  life  of  Jesus,  and  is  not  like  the  shadowy 
and  transient  incarnations  of  Eastern  mythology  or 
speculation — a  mere  assumption  of  a  fleshly  nature 
for  a  moment,  which  is  dropped  from  the  re-ascending 
Deity,  but  that,  for  evermore,  manhood  is  wedded  to 
divinity  in  the  perpetual  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  this  indwelling  is  the  result  of  the  Father's 
good  pleasure.  Adopting  the  supplement  in  the 
Authorized  and  Revised  Versions,  we  might  read 
"  the  Father  pleased " — but  without  making  that 
change,  the  force  of  the  words  remains  the  same. 
The  Incarnation  and  whole  work  of  Christ  are 
referred  to  their  deepest  ground  in  the  will  of  the 


88  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 

Father.  The  word  rendered  "  pleased  "  implies  both 
counsel  and  complacency  ;  it  is  both  pleasure  and 
good  pleasure.  The  Father  determined  the  work  of 
the  Son,  and  delighted  in  it.  Caricatures  intentional 
or  unintentional  of  New  Testament  teaching  have 
often  represented  it  as  making  Christ's  work  the 
means  of  pacifying  an  unloving  God  and  moving 
Him  to  mercy.  That  is  no  part  of  the  Pauline 
doctrine.  But  he,  as  all  his  brethren,  taught  that 
the  love  of  God  is  the  cause  of  the  mission  of  Christ, 
even  as  Christ  Himself  had  taught  that  "  God  so 
loved  the  world  that  He  sent  His  Son."  On  that 
Rock-foundation  of  the  will — the  loving  will  of  the 
Father,  is  built  the  whole  work  of  His  Incarnate  Son. 
And  as  that  work  was  the  issue  of  His  eternal 
purpose,  so  it  is  the  object  of  His  eternal  delight. 
That  is  the  wonderful  meaning  of  the  word  which 
fell  gently  as  the  dove  descending  on  His  head,  and 
lay  on  His  locks  wet  from  His  baptism,  like  a  con- 
secrating oil — "  This  is  My  beloved  Son,  in  whom 
/  am  well  pleased''  God  willed  that  so  He  should 
be ;  He  delighted  that  so  He  was.  Through  Christ, 
the  Father  purposed  that  His  fulness  should  be 
communicated  to  us,  and  through  Christ  the  Father 
rejoices  to  pour  His  abundance  into  our  emptiness, 
that  we  may   be  filled   with  all   the  fulness. 

n.  Again,  we  have  here,  as  before  Christ  and  the 
Universe,  of  which  He  is  not  only  Maker,  Sustainer, 
and  Lord,  but  through  "  the  blood  of  His  cross " 
reconciles  "  all  things'  unto  Himself." 

Probably  these  same  false  teachers  had  dreams 
of  reconciling  agents  among  the  crowd  of  shadowy 
phantoms  with  which  they  peopled  the  void.  Paul 
lifts  up  in  opposition  to  all  these  the  one  Sovereign 


k 


Col.  i.  19-22.]  THE  RECONCILING  SON.  89 

Mediator,  whose  cross  is  the  bond  of  peace  for  all 
the  universe. 

It  is  important  for  the  understanding  of  these 
great  words  to  observe  their  distinct  reference  to  the 
former  clauses  which  dealt  with  our  Lord's  relation 
to  the  universe  as  Creator.  The  same  words  are 
used  in  order  to  make  the  parallelism  as  close  as 
may  be.  "  Through  Him  "  was  creation  ;  "  through 
Him  "  is  reconciliation.  "  All  things  " — or  as  the 
Greek  would  rather  suggest,  "  the  universe  " — all 
things  considered  as  an  aggregate — were  made  and 
sustained  through  Him  and  subordinated  to  Him  ; 
the  same  "  all  things  "  are  reconciled.  A  significant 
change  in  the  order  of  naming  the  elements  of 
which  these  are  composed  is  noticeable.  When 
creation  is  spoken  of,  the  order  is  "in  the  heavens 
and  upon  the  earth " — the  order  of  creation  ;  but 
when  reconciliation  is  the  theme,  the  order  is 
reversed,  and  we  read  "  things  upon  the  earth  and 
things  in  the  heavens  " — those  coming  first  which 
stand  nearest  to  the  reconciling  cross,  and  are  first 
to  feel  the  power  which  streams  from  it. 

This  obvious  intentional  correspondence  between 
these  two  paragraphs  shows  us  that  whatever  be  the 
nature  of  the  "  reconciliation  "  spoken  of  here,  it  is 
supposed  to  affect  not  only  rational  and  responsible 
creatures  who  alone  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word 
can  be  reconciled,  as  they  only  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  word  can  be  enemies,  but  to  extend  to  things^ 
and  to  send  its  influence  through  the  universe. 
The  width  of  the  reconciliation  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  creation  ;  they  are  conterminous.  That 
being  the  case,  "  reconciliation  "  here  must  have  a 
different  shade  of  meaning  when  applied  to  the  sum 


90  THE  EFJSTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

total  of  created  things  from  what  it  has  when 
applied  to  persons.  But  not  only  are  inanimate 
creatures  included  in  the  expression  ;  it  may 
even  be  made  a  question  whether  the  whole  of 
mankind  is  not  excluded  from  it,  not  only  by  the 
phrase  "  all  things  "  but  also  from  the  consideration 
that  the  effect  of  Christ's  death  on  men  is  the 
subject  of  the  following  words,  which  are  not  an 
explanation  of  this  clause,  but  an  addition  to  it, 
introducing  an  entirely  different  department  of 
Christ's  reconciling  work.  Nor  should  we  lose  sight 
of  the  very  significant  omission  in  this  section  of  the 
reference  to  the  angelic  beings  who  were  named  in 
the  creation  section.  We  hear  nothing  now  about 
thrones  or  dominions  or  principalities  or  powers. 
The  division  into  "  visible  and  invisible "  is  not 
reproduced.  I  suggest  the  possibility  that  the 
reason  may  be  the  intention  to  represent  this 
"  reconciliation  "  as  taking  effect  exclusively  on  the 
regions  of  creation  below  the  angelic  and  below  the 
human,  while  the  "  reconciliation,"  properly  so  called, 
which  is  brought  to  pass  on  alienated  men  is  dealt 
with  first  in  the  following  words. 

If  this  be  so,  then  these  words  refer  mainly  to 
the  restitution  of  the  material  universe  to  its  primal 
obedience,  and  represent  Christ  the  Creator  remov- 
ing by  His  cross  the  shadow  which  has  passed  over 
nature  by  reason  of  sin.  It  has  been  well  said, 
"  How  far  this  restoration  of  universal  nature  may  be 
subjective,  as  involved  in  the  changed  perceptions 
of  man  thus  brought  into  harmony  with  God,  and 
how  far  it  may  have  an  objective  and  independent 
existence,  it  were  vain  to  speculate."  ^ 

*  Bp.  Lightfoot,  On  Coloss.,  p.  226, 


Col.  i.  19-22.]  THE  RECONCILING  SON,  9' 

Scripture  seems  to  teach  that  man's  sin  has  made 
the  physical  world  "  subject  to  vanity  "  ;  for,  although 
much  of  what  it  says  on  this  matter  is  unquestionably 
metaphor  only,  portraying  the  Messianic  blessings 
in  poetical  language  never  meant  for  dogmatic 
truth,  and  although  unquestionably  physical  death 
reigned  among  animals,  and  storms  and  catastrophes 
swept  over  the  earth  long  before  man  or  sin  were 
here,  still — seeing  that  man  by  his  sin  has  com- 
pelled dead  matter  to  serve  his  lusts  and  to  be  his 
instrument  in  acts  of  rebellion  against  God,  making 
"  a  league  with  the  stones  of  the  field  "  against  his 
and  their  Master — seeing  that  he  has  used  earth  to 
hide  heaven  and  to  shut  himself  out  from  its  glories, 
and  so  has  made  it  an  unwilling  antagonist  to  God 
and  temptress  to  evil — seeing  that  he  has  actually 
polluted  the  beauty  of  the  world  and  has  stained 
many  a  lovely  scene  with  his  sin,  making  its  rivers 
run  red  with  blood — seeing  that  he  has  laid 
unnumbered  woes  on  the  living  creatures — we  may 
feel  that  there  is  more  than  poetry  in  the  affirmation 
that  "  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  together,"  and  may  hear  a  deep  truth,  the 
extent  of  which  we  cannot  measure,  in  Milton's 
majestic  lines — 

"  Disproportioned  Sin 
Jarred  against  Nature's  chime,  and  with  harsh  din 
Brake  the  fair  music  that  all  creatures  made 
To  their  great  Lord,  whose  love  their  motion  swayed.** 

Here  we  have  held  forth  in  words,  the  extent  of 
which  we  can  measure  as  little,  the  counter-hope  that 
wherever  and  however  any  such  effect  has  come  to 
pass  on  the  material  universe,  it  shall  be  done  away 
by  the  reconciling  power  of  the  blood  shed  on  the 


$3  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

cross.  That  reconciling  power  goes  as  far  as  His 
creative  power.  The  universe  is  one,  not  only  be- 
cause all  created  by  the  one  personal  Divine  Word, 
nor  because  all  upheld  by  Him,  but  because  in  ways 
to  us  unknown,  the  power  of  the  cross  pierces  its 
heights  and  depths.  As  the  impalpable  influences 
of  the  sun  bind  planets  and  comets  into  one  great 
system,  so  from  Him  on  His  cross  may  stream  out 
attractive  powers  which  knit  together  far  off  regions, 
and  diverse  orders,  and  bring  all  in  harmonious  unity 
to  God,  who  has  made  peace  by  the  blood  shed  on 
the  cross,  and  has  thereby  been  pleased  to  reconcile 
all  things  to  Himself 

"  And  a  Priest's  hand  through  creation 
Waveth  calm  and  consecration." 

It  may  be  that  the  reference  to  things  in  heaven 
is  like  the  similar  reference  in  the  previous  verses, 
occasioned  by  some  dreams  of  the  heretical  teachers. 
He  may  merely  mean  to  say  :  You  speak  much 
about  heavenly  things,  and  have  filled  the  whole 
space  between  God's  throne  and  man's  earth  with 
creatures  thick  as  the  motes  in  the  sunbeam.  I 
know  nothing  about  them  ;  but  this  I  know,  that,  if 
they  are,  Christ  made  them,  and  that  if  among  them 
there  be  antagonism  to  God,  it  can  be  overcome  by  the 
cross.  As  to  reconciliation  proper, — in  the  heavens, 
meaning  by  that,  among  spiritual  beings  who  dwell 
in  that  realm,  it  is  clear  there  can  be  no  question  of 
it.  There  is  no  enmity  among  the  angels  of  heaven, 
and  no  place  for  return  to  union  with  God  among 
t/ieir  untroubled  bands,  who  *'  hearken  to  the  voice 
of  His  word."  But  still  if  the  hypothetical  form  of 
the  clause  and  the  use  of  the  neuter  gender  permit 
any  reference  to  intelligent  beings  in  the  heavens,  we 


Col.  i.  19-22.]  THE  RECONCILING  SON.  93 

know  that  to  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly- 
places  the  cross  has  been  the  teacher  of  before  un- 
learned depths  in  the  Divine  nature  and  purposes, 
the  knowledge  of  which  has  drawn  them  nearer  the 
heart  of  God,  and  made  even  their  blessed  union  with 
Him  more  blessed  and  more  close. 

On  no  subject  is  it  more  necessary  to  remember 
the  limitations  of  our  knowledge  than  on  this  great 
theme.  On  none  is  confident  assertion  more  out  of 
place.  The  general  truth  taught  is  clear,  but  the 
specific  applications  of  it  to  the  various  regions  of 
the  universe  is  very  doubtful.  We  have  no  source 
of  knowledge  on  that  subject  but  the  words  of 
Scripture,  and  we  have  no  means  of  verifying  or 
checking  the  conclusions  we  may  draw  from  them. 
We  are  bound,  therefore,  if  we  go  beyond  the  general 
principle,  to  remember  that  it  is  one  thing,  and  our 
reckoning  up  of  what  it  includes  is  quite  another. 
Our  inferences  have  not  the  certainty  of  God's  word. 
It  comes  to  us  with  "  Verily,  verily."  We  have  no 
right  to  venture  on  more  than  Perhaps. 

Especially  is  this  the  case  when  we  have  but  one 
or  two  texts  to  build  on,  and  these  most  general  in 
their  language.  And  still  more,  when  we  find  other 
words  of  Scripture  which  seem  hard  to  reconcile  with 
them,  if  pressed  to  their  utmost  meaning.  In  such 
a  case  our  wisdom  is  to  recognise  that  God  has  not 
been  pleased  to  give  us  the  means  of  constructing  a 
dogma  on  the  subject,  and  rather  to  seek  to  learn  the 
lessons  taught  by  the  obscurity  that  remains  than 
rashly  and  confidently  to  proclaim  our  inferences 
from  half  of  our  materials  as  if  they  were  the  very 
heart  of  the  gospel. 

Sublime    and  great  beyond  all    our  dreams,  we 


94  THE  EFISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

may  be  sure,  shall  be  the  issue.  Certain  as  the 
throne  of  God  is  it  that  His  purposes  shall  be  ac- 
complished— and  at  last  this  shall  be  the  fact  for  the 
universe,  as  it  has  ever  been  the  will  of  the  Father — 
"  Of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to  Him  are  all 
things,  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever."  To  that  highest 
nope  and  ultimate  vision  for  the  whole  creation,  who 
will  not  say,  Amen  ?  The  great  sight  which  the 
seer  beheld  in  Patmos  is  the  best  commentary  on 
our  text.  To  him  the  eternal  order  of  the  universe 
was  unveiled — the  great  white  throne,  a  snowy  Alp 
in  the  centre  ;  between  the  throne  and  the  creatures, 
the  Lamb,  through  Whom  blessing  and  life  passed 
outwards  to  them,  and  their  incense  and  praise  passed 
inwards  to  the  throne  ;  and  all  around  the  "  living 
creatures,"  types  of  the  aggregate  of  creatural  life, 
the  "  elders,"  representatives  of  the  Church  redeemed 
from  among  men,  and  myriads  of  the  firstborn  of 
heaven.  The  eyes  of  all  alike  wait  upon  that  slain 
Lamb.  In  Him  they  see  God  in  clearest  light  of 
love  and  gentlest  might — and  as  they  look  and  learn 
and  are  fed,  each  according  to  his  hunger,  from  the 
fulness  of  Christ,  "  every  creature  which  is  in  heaven, 
and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  such 
as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them,"  will  be 
heard  saying  "  Blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and 
power,  be  unto  Him,  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne, 
and   unto   the   Lamb  for   ever." 

HL  Christ,  and  His  Reconciling  Work  in  the 
Church.  W^e  have  still  the  parallel  kept  up  between 
the  reconciling  and  the  creative  work  of  Christ. 
As  in  verse  i8  He  was  represented  as  the  giver  of 
life  to  the  Church,  in  a  higher  fashic>n  than  to  the 
universe,  so,  and  probably  with  a  similar  heightening 


Col.  i.  I9-2ZJ  THE  RECONCILING  SON.  9$ 

of  the  meaning  of  "  reconciliation,"  He  is  here  set 
forth  as  its  giver  to  the  Church. 

Now  observe  the  solemn  emphasis  of  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  condition  of  men  before  that  reconcil- 
ing work  has  told  upon  their  hearts.  They  are 
"  alienated  " —  not  "  aliens,"  as  if  that  were  their 
original  condition,  but  "  alienated,"  as  having  become 
so.  The  same  thought  that  man's  sin  and  separa- 
tion from  God  is  a  fall,  something  abnormal  and 
superinduced  on  humanity,  which  is  implied  in 
"  reconciliation "  or  restoration  to  an  original  con- 
cord, is  implied  in  this  expression.  "  And  enemies 
in  your  mind  " — the  seat  of  the  enmity  is  in  that 
inner  man  which  thinks,  reflects,  and  wills,  and  its 
sphere  of  manifestation  is  "  in  evil  works  "  which  are 
religiously  acts  of  hostility  to  God  because  morally 
they  are  bad.  We  should  not  read  "  dy  wicked 
works,"  as  the  Authorized  Version  does,  for  the  evil 
deeds  have  not  made  them  enemies,  but  the  enmity 
has  originated  the  evil  deeds,  and  is  witnessed  to  by 
them. 

That  is  a  severe  indictment,  a  plain,  rough,  and 
as  it  is  thought  now-a-days,  a  far  too  harsh  descrip- 
tion of  human  nature.  Our  forefathers  no  doubt 
were  tempted  to  paint  the  "  depravity  of  human 
nature  "  in  very  black  colours — but  I  am  very  sure 
that  we  are  tempted  just  in  the  opposite  direction. 
It  sounds  too  harsh  and  rude  to  press  home  the  old- 
fashioned  truth  on  cultured,  respectable  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  The  charge  is  not  that  of  conscious, 
active  hostility,  but  of  practical  want  of  affection,  as 
manifested  by  habitual  disobedience  or  inattention  to 
God's  wishes,  and  by  indifference  and  separation  from 
Him  in  heart  and  mind. 


96  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS. 

And  are  these  not  the  habitual  temper  of  multi- 
tudes ?  The  signs  of  love  are  joy  in  the  company 
of  the  beloved,  sweet  memories  and  longings  if 
parted,  eager  fulfilment  of  their  lightest  wish,  a  quick 
response  to  the  most  slender  association  recalling 
them  to  our  thoughts.  Have  we  these  signs  of  love 
to  God  ?  If  not,  it  is  time  to  consider  what  temper 
of  heart  and  mind  towards  the  most  loving  of 
Hearts  and  the  most  unwearied  of  Givers,  is  in- 
dicated by  the  facts  that  we  scarcely  ever  think  of 
Him,  that  we  have  no  delight  in  His  felt  presence, 
that  most  of  our  actions  have  no  reference  whatever 
to  Him  and  would  be  done  just  the  same  if  there 
were  no  God  at  all.  Surely  such  a  condition  is 
liker  hostility  than  love. 

Further,  here,  as  uniformly,  God  Himself  is  the 
Reconciler.  "  He  " — that  is,  God,  not  Christ,  "  has 
reconciled  us."  Some,  indeed,  read  "  ye  have  been 
reconciled,"  but  the  preponderance  of  authority  is  in 
favour  of  the  text  as  it  stands,  which  yields  a  sense 
accordant  with  the  usual  mode  of  representation. 
It  is  we  who  are  reconciled.  It  is  God  who 
reconciles.  It  is  we  who  are  enemies.  The  Divine 
patience  loves  on  through  all  our  enmity,  and 
though  perfect  love  meeting  human  sin  must  be- 
come wrath,  which  is  consistent  with  love,  it  never 
becomes  hatred,  which  is  love's  opposite. 

Observe  finally  the  great  means  of  reconciliation  : 
"  In  the  body  of  His  flesh" — that  is,  of  course, 
Christ's  flesh — God  has  reconciled  us.  Why  does 
the  Apostle  use  this  apparently  needless  exuberance 
of  language — "  the  body  of  His  flesh  "  ?  It  may 
have  been  in  order  to  correct  some  erroneous 
tendencies  towards  a  doctrine  which  we  know  was 


Col.  i.  19-22.]  THE  RECONCILING  SON.  97 

afterwards  eagerly  embraced  in  the  Eastern 
Churches,  that  our  Lord's  body  was  not  truly  flesh, 
but  only  a  phantasm  or  appearance.  It  may  have 
been  to  guard  against  risk  of  confounding  it  with 
His  "body  the  Church,"  spoken  of  in  the  i8th 
verse,  though  that  supposes  a  scarcely  credible 
dulness  in  his  readers.  Or  it  may  more  naturally 
be  accounted  for  as  showing  how  full  his  own  mind 
was  of  the  overwhelming  wonder  of  the  fact  that  He, 
Whose  majesty  he  has  been  setting  forth  in  such 
deep  words,  should  veil  His  eternal  glories  and  limit 
His  far  reaching  energies  within  a  fleshly  body.  He 
would  point  the  contrast  between  the  Divine  dignity 
of  the  Eternal  Word,  the  Creator  and  Lord  of  the 
universe,  and  the  lowliness  of  His  incarnation.  On 
these  two  pillars,  as  on  two  solid  piers,  one  on  either 
continent,  with  a  great  gulf  between,  the  Divinity  of 
Christ  on  one  side,  His  Manhood  on  the  other,  is 
built  the  bridge  by  which  we  pass  over  the  river  into 
the  glory. 

But  that  is  not  all.  The  Incarnation  is  not  the 
whole  gospel.  The  body  of  His  flesh  becomes  the 
means  of  our  reconciliation  "  through  death."  Christ's 
death  has  so  met  the  requirements  of  the  Divine 
law  that  the  Divine  love  can  come  freely  forth,  and 
embrace  and  forgive  sinful  men.  That  fact  is  the 
very  centre  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ,  the 
very  secret  of  His  power.  He  has  died.  Volun- 
tarily and  of  His  own  love,  as  well  as  in  obedience 
to  the  Father's  loving  will.  He  has  borne  the  conse- 
quences of  the  sin  which  He  had  never  shared,  in 
that  life  of  sorrow  and  sympathy,  in  that  separation 
from  God  which  is  sin's  deepest  penalty,  and  of  which 
the  solemn  witness  comes  to  us  in  the  cry  that  rent 

7 


98  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS. 

the  darkness,  "  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou 
forsaken  Me  ? "  and  in  that  physical  death  which  is 
the  parable  in  the  material  sphere  of  the  true  death 
of  the  spirit.  We  do  not  know  all  the  incidence  of 
Christ's  death.  The  whole  manner  of  its  operation 
has  not  been  told  us,  but  the  fact  has  been.  It  does 
not  affect  the  Divine  heart.  That  we  know,  for 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  sent  His  Son." 
But  it  does  affect  the  Divine  government.  Without 
it,  forgiveness  could  not  have  been.  Its  influence 
extends  to  all  the  years  before,  as  to  all  after,  Calvary, 
for  the  fact  that  Man  continued  to  be  after  Man  had 
sinned,  was  because  the  whole  Divine  government  from 
the  first  had  respect  to  the  sacrifice  that  was  to  be,  as 
now  it  all  is  moulded  by  the  merit  of  the  sacrifice  that 
has  been.  And  in  this  aspect  of  the  case,  the  previous 
thoughts  as  to  the  blood  of  the  cross  having  power 
in  the  material  universe  derive  a  new  meaning,  if  we 
regard  the  whole  history  of  the  world  as  shaped  by 
Christ's  sacrifice,  and  the  very  continuance  of  human- 
ity from  the  first  moment  of  transgression  as  possible, 
because  He  was  "the  Lamb  slain  before  the  foundation 
of  the  world,"  whose  cross,  as  an  eternal  fact  in  the 
Divine  purpose,  influenced  the  Divine  government 
long  before  it  was  realized  in  time. 

For  us,  that  wondrous  love — mightier  than  death, 
and  not  to  be  quenched  by  many  waters — is 
the  one  power  that  can  change  our  alienation  to 
glad  friendship,  and  melt  the  frost  and  hard-ribbed 
\c^  of  indifference  and  dread  into  love.  That,  and 
that  alone,  is  the  solvent  for  stubborn  wills,  the 
magnet  for  distant  hearts.  The  cross  of  Christ  is 
the  key-stone  of  the  universe  and  the  conqueror  of 
all  enmity. 


Col.  i.  19-22.]  THE  RECONCILING  SON,  99 

If  religion  is  to  have  sovereign  power  in  our  lives, 
it  must  be  the  religion  built  upon  faith  in  the  Incar- 
nate Son  of  God,  who  reconciles  the  world  to  God 
upon  His  cross.  That  is  the  only  faith  which  makes 
men  love  God  and  binds  them  to  Him  with  bands 
which  cannot  be  broken.  Other  types  of  Christ- 
ianity are  but  tepid  ;  and  lukewarm  water  is  an 
abomination.  The  one  thing  that  makes  us  ground 
our  rebellious  arms  and  say,  Lord,  I  surrender.  Thou 
hast  conquered,  is  to  see  in  Christ's  life  the  perfect 
image  of  God,  and  in  His  death  the  all-sufficient 
sacrifice  for  sin. 

What  does  it  avail  for  us  that  the  far-reaching 
power  of  Christ's  cross  shoots  out  magnetic  forces  to 
the  uttermost  verge  of  the  heavens,  and  binds  the 
whole  universe  by  silken  blood-red  cords  to  God,  if 
it  does  not  bind  me  to  Him  in  love  and  longing  ? 
What  does  it  avail  that  God  is  in  Christ,  reconciling 
the  world  to  Himself,  if  I  am  unconscious  of  the 
enmity,  and  careless  of  the  friendship  ?  Each  man 
has  to  ask  Himself,  Am  I  reconciled  to  God  ">  Has 
the  sight  of  His  great  love  on  the  cross  won  me, 
body  and  soul,  to  His  love  and  service?  Have  I 
flung  away  self-will,  pride  and  enmity,  and  yielded 
myself  a  glad  captive  to  the  loving  Christ  who  died  } 
His  cross  draws  us.  His  love  beckons  us.  God 
pleads  with  all  hearts.  He  who  has  made  peace 
by  so  costly  means  as  the  sacrifice  of  His  Son,  con- 
descends to  implore  the  rebels  to  come  into  amity 
with  Him,  and  prays  us  with  much  entreaty  to 
receive  the  gift."  God  beseeches  us  to  be  reconciled 
to  Himself. 


VII. 

THE  ULTIMATE  PURPOSE  OF  RECONCILIATION  AND 
ITS  HUMAN  CONDITIONS. 

**  To  present  you  holy  and  without  blemish  and  unreproveable  before 
Him  :  if  so  be  that  ye  continue  in  the  faith,  grounded  and  stedfast,  and 
not  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel  which  ye  heard,  which 
was  preached  in  all  creation  under  heaven ;  whereof  I  Paul  was  made  a 
minister." — CoL.  i.  22,  23  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THE  Apostle  has  been  sketching  in  magnificent 
outline  a  vast  system,  which  we  may  almost 
call  the  scheme  of  the  universe.  He  has  set  forth 
Christ  as  its  Lord  and  centre,  through  Whom  all 
things  at  first  came  into  being,  and  still  continue  to 
be.  In  parallel  manner  he  has  presented  Christ  as 
Lord  and  Centre  of  the  Church,  its  lifegiving  Head. 
And  finally  he  has  set  forth  Christ  as  the  Reconciler 
of  all  discords  in  heaven  and  earth,  and  especially  of 
that  which  parts  sinful  men  from  God. 

And  now  he  shows  us  here,  in  the  first  words  of 
our  text,  the  purpose  of  this  whole  manifestation  of 
God  in  Christ  to  be  the  presenting  of  men  perfect 
in  purity,  before  the  perfect  judgment  of  God.  He 
then  appends  the  condition  on  which  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  ultimate  purpose  in  each  man  depends 
• — namely,  the  man's  continuance  in  the  faith  and 
hope  of  the  Gospel.  That  leads  him  to  gather  up, 
in  a  series  of  clauses  characterizing  the  Gospel, 
certain   aspects  of   it  which   constitute   subordinate 


Col. i. 22, 23-]    PURPOSE  OF  RECONCILIATIOI^.  loi 

motives  and  encouragements  to  such  stedfastness, 
That  is,  I  think,  the  outHne  connection  of  the 
words  before  us,  which  at  first  sight  seem  somewhat 
tangled  and  difficult  to  unravel. 

I.  We  have  then,  first,  to  consider  the  ultimate 
purpose  of  God  in  the  work  of  Christ. 

"  To  present  you  holy  and  without  blemish  and 
unreproveable  before  Him."  It  may  be  a  question 
whether  these  words  should  be  connected  with  "  now 
hath  He  reconciled,"  or  whether  we  are  to  go  farther 
back  in  the  long  paragraph,  and  make  them 
dependent  on  "  it  was  the  good  pleasure  of  the 
Father."  The  former  seems  the  more  natural — 
namely,  to  see  here  a  statement  of  the  great  end 
contemplated  in  our  reconciliation  to  God  ;  which, 
indeed,  whatever  may  be  the  grammatical  con- 
struction preferred  here,  is  also,  of  course,  the 
ultimate  object  of  the  Father's  good  pleasure.  In 
the  word  "  present "  there  is  possibly  a  sacrificial 
allusion,  as  there  is  unquestionably-  in  its  use  in 
Rom.  xii.,  "  Present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice  "  ; 
or  there  may  be  another  and  even  more  eloquent 
metaphor  implied,  that  of  the  bringing  of  the  bride 
to  the  husband  by  the  friend  of  the  bridegroom. 
That  lovely  figure  is  found  in  two  instances  of  the 
use  of  the  word  in  Paul's  epistle  (2  Cor.  ii.  2,  "to 
present  you  as  a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ,"  and  Eph. 
V.  27,  "  that  He  might  present  it  to  Himself  a 
glorious  Church  "),  and  possibly  in  others.  It 
certainly  gives  an  appropriate  and  beautiful  emblem 
here  if  we  think  of  the  presentation  of  the  bride  in 
virginal  beauty  and  purity  to  her  Lord  at  that  last 
great  day  which  is  the  bridal  day  of  the  perfected 
Church. 


I02  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

There  is,  however,  no  need  to  suppose  any 
metaphor  at  all,  nor  any  allusion  beyond  the 
general  meaning  of  the  word — to  set  in  the  presence 
of.  The  sacrificial  reference  is  incongruous  here, 
and  the  bridal  one  not  indicated  by  anything  in  the 
context,  as  it  is  in  the  instances  just  quoted.  One 
thing  is  clear,  that  the  reference  is  to  a  future 
presentation  in  the  day  of  judgment,  as  in  another 
place,  where  Paul  says,  "  He  .  .  .  shall  raise  up  us 
also  .  .  .  and  shall  present  us"  (2  Cor.  iv.  14). 
In  the  light  of  that  revealing  day.  His  purpose  is 
that  we  shall  stand  "  holy,"  that  is,  devoted  to  God 
and  therefore  pure — "without  blemish,"  as  the 
offerings  had  to  be,  and  "  unreproveable,"  against 
whom  no  charge  can  be  brought.  These  three 
express  a  regular  sequence ;  firat,  the  inward 
principle  of  consecration  and  devotion  to  God,  then 
its  visible  issue  in  stainless  conduct  and  character, 
and  then  its  last  consequence,  that  in  the  judgment 
of  God  and  of  men  we  shall  stand  acquitted  of 
blame,  and  every  accusation  drop  away  from  our 
dazzlipg  purity,  like  muddy  water  from  the  white 
wing  of  the  sea-bird  as  it  soars.  And  all  this  moral 
perfectness  and  unblameableness  is  to  be  not  merely 
in  the  judgment  of  men,  but  "before  Him,"  the 
light  of  whose  "pure  eyes  and  perfect  judgment** 
discovers  all  stains  and  evils.  They  must  be  spot- 
less indeed  who  are  "without  fault  before  the 
throne  of  God." 

Such,  then,  is  the  grand  conception  of  the  ulti- 
mate purpose  and  issue  of  Christ's  reconciling  work. 
All  the  lines  of  thought  in  the  preceding  section  lead 
up  to  and  converge  in  this  peak.  The  meaning  of 
God  in   creation   and    redemption  cannot    be    fully 


Col. L 22, 23.]    PURPOSE  OF  RECONCILIATION.  103 

fathomed  without  taking  into  view  the  future  perfect- 
ing of  men.  This  Christian  ideal  of  the  possibilities 
for  men  is  the  noblest  vision  that  can  animate  our 
hopes.  Absolute  moral  purity  which  shall  be  recog- 
nised as  perfect  by  the  perfect  Judge,  and  a  close 
approach  to  God,  so  as  that  we  shall  be  "  before 
Him "  in  a  manner  unknown  here — are  hopes  as 
much  brighter  than  those  which  any  other  systems  of 
belief  print  on  the  dim  canvass  curtain  of  the  future, 
as  the  Christian  estimate  of  man's  condition  apart 
from  Christ  is  sadder  and  darker  than  theirs. 
Christianity  has  a  much  more  extended  scale  of 
colours  than  they  have.  It  goes  further  down  into 
blackness  for  the  tints  with  which  it  paints  man  as 
he  is,  and  further  up  into  flashing  glories  of  splendour 
for  the  gleaming  hues  with  which  it  paints  him  as 
he  may  become.  They  move  within  narrow  limits 
of  neutral  tints.  The  Gospel  alone  does  not  try  to 
minimise  man's  evil,  because  it  is  triumphantly  con- 
fident of  its  power  to  turn  all  that  evil  into  good. 

Nothing  short  of  this  complete  purity  and  blame- 
lessness  satisfies  God's  heart.  We  may  travel  back 
to  the  beginning  of  this  section,  and  connect  its  first 
words  with  these,  "  It  pleased  the  Father,  to  present 
us  holy  and  spotless  and  blameless."  It  delights 
Him  thus  to  effect  the  purifying  of  sinful  souls,  and 
He  is  glad  when  He  sees  Himself  surrounded  by 
spirits  thus  echoing  His  will  and  reflecting  His  light. 
This  is  what  he  longs  for.  This  is  what  He  aims 
at  in  all  His  working — to  make  good  and  pure  men. 
The  moral  interest  is  uppermost  in  His  heart  and  in 
His  doings.  The  physical  universe  is  but  the  scaffold- 
ing by  which  the  true  house  of  God  may  be  built. 
The  work  of  Christ  is  the  means  to  that  end,  and 


104  I'H^  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS, 

when  God  has  got  us,  by  such  lavish  expenditure,  to 
be  white  like  Himself,  and  can  find  nothing  in  us  to 
condemn,  then,  and  not  til/,  then,  does  He  brood 
over  us  satisfied  and  glad  at  heart,  resting  in  His 
love,  and  rejoicing  over  us  with  singing. 

Nor  will  anything  short  of  this  complete  purity 
exhaust  the  power  of  the  Reconciling  Christ.  His 
work  is  like  an  unfinished  column,  or  Giotto's  Cam- 
panile, all  shining  with  marbles  and  alabasters  and  set 
about  with  fair  figures,  but  waiting  for  centuries  for 
the  glittering  apex  to  gather  its  glories  into  a  heaven- 
piercing  point.  His  cross  and  passion  reach  no 
adequate  result,  short  of  the  perfecting  of  saints,  nor 
was  it  worth  Christ's  while  to  die  for  any  less  end. 
His  cross  and  passion  have  evidently  power  to  effect 
this  perfect  purity,  and  cannot  be  supposed  to  have 
done  all  that  is  in  them  to  do,  until  they  have  done 
that  with  every  Christian. 

We  ought  then  to  keep  very  clear  before  us  this 
as  the  crowning  object  of  Christianity :  not  to  make 
men  happy,  except  as  a  consequence  of  holiness  ;  not 
to  deliver  from  penalty,  except  as  a  means  to  holi- 
ness ;  but  to  make  them  holy,  and  being  holy,  to 
set  them  close  by  the  throne  of  God.  No  man 
understands  the  scope  of  Christianity,  or  judges  it 
fairly,  who  does  not  give  full  weight  to  that  as  its 
own  statement  of  its  purpose.  The  more  distinctly 
we,  as  Christians,  keep  that  purpose  prominent  in 
our  thoughts,  the  more  shall  we  have  our  efforts 
stimulated  and  guided,  and  our  hopes  fed,  even  when 
we  are  saddened  by  a  sense  of  failure.  We  have  a 
power  working  in  us  which  can  make  us  white  as 
the  angels,  pure  as  our  Lord  is  pure.  If  it,  being 
able   to  produce  perfect  results,  has  produced  only 


Col.  i.  22,  23-]    PURPOSE   OF  RECONCILIATION.  105 

such  imperfect  ones,  we  may  well  ask,  where  the 
reason  for  the  partial  failure  lies.  If  we  believed 
more  vividly  that  the  real  purpose  and  use  of  Christ- 
ianity was  to  make  us  good  men,  we  should  surely 
labour  more  earnestly  to  secure  that  end,  should  take 
more  to  heart  our  own  responsibility  for  the  incom- 
pleteness with  which  it  has  been  attained  in  us,  and 
should  submit  ourselves  more  completely  to  the 
operation  of  the  "might  of  the  power"  which  worketh 
in  us. 

Nothing  less  than  our  absolute  purity  will  satisfy 
God  about  us.  Nothing  less  should  satisfy  ourselves. 
The  only  worthy  end  of  Christ's  work  for  us  is  to 
present  us  holy,  in  complete  consecration,  and  without 
blemish,  in  perfect  homogeneousness  and  uniformity 
of  white  purity  and  unreproveable  in  manifest  in- 
inocence  in  His  sight.  If  we  call  ourselves  Chris- 
tians let  us  make  it  our  life's  business  to  see  that 
that  end  is  being  accomplished  in  us  in  some  toler- 
able and  growing  measure. 

II.  We  have  next  set  forth  the  conditions  on 
which  the  accomplishment  of  that  purpose  depends : 
"  If  so  be  that  ye  continue  in  the  faith,  grounded  and 
stedfast,  and  not  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the 
Gospel." 

The  condition  is,  generally  speaking,  a  stedfast 
adherence  to  the  Gospel  which  the  Colossians  had 
received.  "  If  ye  continue  in  the  faith,"  means,  I  sup- 
pose, if  ye  continue  to  live  in  the  exercise  of  your  faith. 
The  word  here  has  its  ordinary  subjective  sense,  expres- 
sing the  act  of  the  believing  man,  and  there  is  no  need 
to  suppose  that  it  has  the  later  ecclesiastical  objective 
sense,  expressing  the  believer's  creed,  a  meaning  in 
which  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  word  is  ever 


lo6  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSTANS. 

employed  in  the  New  Testament.  Then  this  con- 
tinuance in  the  faith  is  further  explained  as  to  its 
manner,  and  that  first  positively,  and  then  negatively. 
They  are  to  be  grounded,  or  more  picturesquely  and 
accurately,  "  founded,"  that  is,  built  into  a  foundation, 
and  therefore  "  stedfast,"  as  banded  into  the  firm 
rock,  and  so  partaking  of  its  fixedness.  Then, 
negatively,  they  are  not  to  be  "moved  away";  the 
word  by  its  form  conveying  the  idea,  that  this  is  a 
process  which  may  be  continually  going  on,  and  in 
which,  by  some  force  constantly  acting  from  without, 
they  may  be  gradually  and  imperceptibly  pushed  off 
from  the  foundation — that  foundation  is  the  hope 
evoked  or  held  out  by  the  Gospel,  a  representation 
which  is  less  familiar  than  that  which  makes  the 
Gospel  itself  the  foundation,  but  is  substantially 
equivalent  to  it,  though  with  a  different  colour. 

One  or  two  plain  lessons  may  be  drawn  from 
these  words.  There  is  an  "  if,"  then.  However 
great  the  powers  of  Christ  and  of  His  work,  how- 
ever deep  the  desire  and  fixed  the  purpose  of  God, 
no  fulfilment  of  these  is  possible  except  on  condition 
of  our  habitual  exercise  of  faith.  The  Gospel  does 
not  work  on  men  by  magic.  Mind,  heart  and  will 
must  be  exercised  on  Christ,  or  all  His  power  to 
purify  and  bless  will  be  of  no  avail  to  us.  We  shall 
be  like  Gideon's  fleece,  dry  when  the  dew  is  falling 
thick,  unless  we  are  continually  putting  forth  living 
faith.  That  attracts  the  blessing  and  fits  the  soul 
to  receive  it.  There  is  nothing  mystical  about  the 
matter.  Common  sense  tells  us,  that  if  a  man  never 
thinks  about  any  truth,  that  truth  will  do  him  no 
good  in  any  way.  If  it  does  not  find  its  road  into 
his  heart  through  his  m'nd,  and  thence  into  his  life, 


Col.  i.  22, 23.1    PURPOSE    OF  RECONCILIATION,  107 

it  is  all  one  as  if  there  were  no  such  truth,  or  as  if 
he  did  not  believe  it.  If  our  creed  is  made  up  of 
truths  which  we  do  not  think  about,  we  may  just  as 
well  have  no  creed.  If  we  do  not  bring  ourselves 
into  contact  with  the  motives  which  the  Gospel 
brings  to  bear  on  character,  the  motives  will  not 
mould  our  character.  If  we  do  not,  by  faith  and 
meditation,  realize  the  principles  which  flow  from  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  obtain  the  strength 
which  is  stored  in  Him,  we  shall  not  grow  by  Him 
or  like  Him.  No  matter  how  mighty  be  the 
renewing  powers  of  the  Gospel  wielded  by  the 
Divine  Spirit,  they  can  only  work  on  the  nature  that 
is  brought  into  contact  with  and  continues  in  con- 
tact with  them  by  faith.  The  measure  in  which 
we  trust  Jesus  Christ  will  be  the  measure  in  which 
He  helps  us.  "  He  could  do  no  mighty  works 
because  of  their  unbelief."  He  cannot  do  what  He 
can  do,  if  we  thwart  Him  by  our  want  of  faith. 
God  will  present  us  holy  before  Him  if  we  continue 
in  the  faith. 

And  it  must  be  present  faith  which  leads  to 
present  results.  We  cannot  make  an  arrangement 
by  which  we  exercise  faith  wholesale  once  for  all, 
and  secure  a  delivery  of  its  blessings  in  small 
quantities  for  a  while  after,  as  a  buyer  may  do  with 
goods.  The  moment's  act  of  faith  will  bring  the 
moment's  blessings  ;  but  to-morrow  will  have  to  get 
its  own  grace  by  its  own  faith.  We  cannot  lay  up 
a  stock  for  the  future.  There  must  be  present 
drinking  for  present  thirst  ;  we  cannot  lay  in  a 
reserve  of  the  water  of  life,  as  a  camel  can  drink  at 
a  draught  enough  for  a  long  desert  march.  The 
Rock  follows  us  aL  through  the  wilderness,  but  we 


io8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

have  to  fill  our  pitchers  day  by  day.  Many 
Christians  seem  to  think  that  they  can  live  on  past 
acts  of  faith.  No  wonder  that  their  Christian 
character  is  stunted,  and  their  growth  stopped,  and 
many  a  blemish  visible,  and  many  a  "  blame  "  to 
be  brought  against  them.  Nothing  but  continual 
exercise  of  faith,  day  by  day,  moment  by  moment, 
in  every  duty,  and  every  temptation,  will  secure  the 
continual  entrance  into  our  weakness  of  the  strength 
which  makes  strong  and  the  purity  which  makes 
pure. 

Then  again,  if  we  and  our  lives  are  to  be  firm 
and  stable,  we  must  have  a  foundation  outside  of 
ourselves  on  which  to  rest.  That  thought  is  in- 
volved in  the  word  "  grounded  "  or  "  founded."  It 
is  possible  that  this  metaphor  of  the  foundation  is 
carried  on  into  the  next  clause,  in  which  case  "the 
hope  of  the  Gospel "  would  be  the  foundation. 
Strange  to  make  a  solid  foundation  out  of  so  un- 
substantial a  thing  as  "  hope  ! "  That  would  be 
indeed  to  build  a  castle  on  the  air,  a  palace  on  a 
soap-bubble,  would  it  not  .?  Yes,  it  would,  if  this 
hope  were  not  "  the  hope  produced  by  the  Gospel," 
and  therefore  as  solid  as  the  ever-enduring  Word 
of  the  Lord  on  which  it  is  founded.  But,  more 
probably,  the  ordinary  application  of  the  figure  is 
preserved  here,  and  Christ  is  the  foundation,  the 
Rock,  on  which  builded,  our  fleeting  lives  and  our 
fickle  selves  may  become  rock-like  too,  and  every 
impulsive  and  changeable  Simon  Bar  Jonas  rise  to 
the  mature  stedfastness  of  a  Peter,  the  pillar  of  the 
Church. 

Translate  that  image  of  taking  Christ  for  our 
foundation   into  plain    English,    and    what  does    it 


Col.  i.  22, 23.]    PURPOSE  OF  RECONCILIA  TION.  109 

come  to  ?  It  means,  let  our  minds  find  in  Him,  in 
His  Word,  and  whole  revealing  life,  the  basis  of  our 
beliefs,  the  materials  for  thought  ;  let  our  hearts 
find  in  Him  their  object,  which  brings  calmness  and 
unchangeableness  into  their  love  ;  let  our  practical 
energies  take  Him  as  their  motive  and  pattern,  their 
strength  and  their  aim,  their  stimulus  and  their 
reward  ;  let  all  hopes  and  joys,  emotions  and  desires, 
fasten  themselves  on  Him  ;  let  Him  occupy  and 
fill  our  whole  nature,  and  mould  and  preside  over  all 
our  actions.      So  shall  we  be  "  founded  "  on  Christ. 

And  so  "  founded,"  we  shall,  as  Paul  here  beauti- 
fully puts  it,  be  "  stedfast."  Without  that  foundation 
to  give  stability  and  permanence,  we  never  get  down 
to  what  abides,  but  pass  our  lives  amidst  fleeting 
shadows,  and  are  ourselves  transient  as  they.  The 
mind  whose  thoughts  about  God  and  the  unseen 
world  are  not  built  on  the  personal  revelation  of  God 
in  Christ  will  have  no  solid  certainties  which  cannot 
be  shaken,  but,  at  the  best,  opinions  which  cannot 
have  more  fixedness  than  belongs  to  human  thoughts 
upon  the  great  problem.  If  my  love  does  not  rest 
on  Christ,  it  will  flicker  and  flutter,  lighting  now  here 
and  now  there,  and  even  where  it  rests  most  secure 
in  human  love,  sure  to  have  to  take  wing  some  day, 
when  Death  with  his  woodman's  axe  fells  the  tree 
where  it  nestles.  If  my  practical  life  is  not  built  on 
Him,  the  blows  of  circumstance  will  make  it  reel  and 
stagger.  If  we  are  not  well  joined  to  Jesus  Christ, 
we  shall  be  driven  by  gusts  of  passion  and  storms 
of  trouble,  or  borne  along  on  the  surface  of  the  slow 
stream  of  all-changing  time  like  thistle-down  on  the 
water.  If  we  are  to  be  stable,  it  must  be  because 
we   are  fastened  to  something  outside  of  ourselves 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS, 


that  is  stable,  just  as  they  have  to  lash  a  man  to  the 
mast  or  other  fixed  things  on  deck,  if  he  is  not  to  be 
washed  overboard  in  the  gale.  If  we  are  lashed  to 
the  unchangeable  Christ  by  the  "  cords  of  love  "  and 
faith,  we  too  shall,  in  our  degree,  be  stedfast. 

And,  says  Paul,  that  Christ-derived  stedfastness 
will  make  us  able  to  resist  influences  that  would  move 
us  away  from  the  hope  of  the  Gospel.  That  process 
which  their  stedfastness  would  enable  the  Colossians 
successfully  to  resist,  is  described  by  the  language  of 
the  Apostle  as  continuous,  and  as  one  which  acted 
on  them  from  without.  Intellectual  dangers  arose 
from  false  teachings.  The  ever  acting  tendencies  of 
worldliness  pressed  upon  them,  and  they  needed  to 
make  a  distinct  effort  to  keep  themselves  from  being 
overcome  by  these. 

If  we  do  not  take  care  that  imperceptible,  steady 
pressure  of  the  all-surrounding  worldliness,  which 
is  continually  acting  on  us,  will  push  us  right  off  the 
foundation  without  our  knowing  that  we  have  shifted 
at  all.  If  we  do  not  looknXvell  after  our  moor- 
ings we  shall  drift  away  down  stream,  and  never 
know  that  we  are  moving,  so  smooth  is  the  motion, 
till  we  wake  up  to  see  that  everything  round  about 
is  changed.  Many  a  man  is  unaware  how  completely 
his  Christian  faith  has  gone  till  some  crisis  comes 
when  he  needs  it,  and  when  he  opens  the  jar  there  is 
nothing.  It  has  evaporated.  When  white  ants  eat 
away  all  the  inside  of  a  piece  of  furniture,  they  leave 
the  outside  shell  apparently  solid,  and  it  stands  till 
some  weight  is  laid  upon  it,  and  then  goes  down 
with  a  crash.  Many  people  loose  their  Christianity 
in  that  fashion,  by  its  being  nibbled  away  in  tiny 
flakes  by  a  multitude  of  secretly  working  little  jaws, 


Col.  i. 22,  23.]    PURPOSE  OF  RECONCILIATION.  in 

and  they  never  know  that  the  pith  is  out  of  it  till  they 
want  to  lean  on  it,  and  then  it  gives  under  them. 

The  only  way  to  keep  firm  hold  of  hope  is  to 
keep  fast  on  the  foundation.  If  we  do  not  wish  to 
slide  imperceptibly  away  from  Him  who  alone  will 
make  our  lives  stedfast  and  our  hearts  calm  with 
the  peacefulness  of  having  found  our  All,  we  must 
continuously  make  an  effort  to  tighten  our  grasp  on 
Him,  and  to  resist  the  subtle  forces  which,  by  silent 
pressure  or  by  sudden  blows,  seek  to  get  us  off  the 
one  foundation. 

HI.  Then  lastly,  we  have  a  threefold  motive  for 
adherence  to  the  Gospel. 

The  three  clauses  which  close  these  verses  seem 
to  be  appended  as  secondary  and  subordinate  en- 
couragements to  stedfastness,  which  encouragements 
are  drawn  from  certain  characteristics  of  the  Gospel. 
Of  course,  the  main  reason  for  a  man's  sticking  to 
the  Gospel,  or  to  anything  else,  is  that  it  is  true. 
And  unless  we  are  prepared  to  say  that  we  believe  it 
true,  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  such  subordinate 
motives  for  professing  adherence  to  it,  except  to 
take  care  that  they  do  not  influence  us.  And  that 
one  sole  reason  is  abundantly  wrought  out  in  this 
letter.  But  then,  its  truth  being  established,  we 
may  fairly  bring  in  other  subsidiary  motives  to 
reinforce  this,  seeing  that  there  may  be  a  certain 
coldness  of  belief  which  needs  the  warmth  of  such 
encouragements. 

The  first  of  these  lies  in  the  words,  "  the  Gospel, 
which  ye  heard."  That  is  to  say,  the  Apostle  would 
have  the  Colossians,  in  the  face  of  these  heretical 
teachers,  remember  the  beginning  of  their  Christian 
life,  and  be  consistent  with  that.     Tb'^y  had  heard  it 


112  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

at  their  conversion.  He  would  have  them  recall  what 
they  had  heard  then,  and  tamper  with  no  teaching  in- 
consistent with  it.  He  also  appeals  to  their  experience. 
"  Do  you  remember  what  the  Gospel  did  for  you  ? 
Do  you  remember  the  time  when  it  first  dawned 
upon  your  astonished  hearts,  all  radiant  with  heavenly 
beauty,  as  the  revelation  of  a  Heart  in  heaven  that 
cared  for  you,  and  of  a  Christ  Who,  on  earth,  had 
died  for  you  ?  Did  it  not  deliver  you  from  your 
burden  ?  Did  it  not  set  new  hope  before  you  } 
Did  it  not  make  earth  as  the  very  portals  of  heaven  ? 
And  have  these  truths  become  less  precious  because 
familiar  ?  Be  not  moved  away  from  the  Gospel 
*  which  ye  have  heard.'  " 

To  us  the  same  appeal  comes.  This  word  has 
been  sounding  in  our  ears  ever  since  childhood.  It 
has  done  everything  for  some  of  us,  something  for 
all  of  us.  Its  truths  have  sometimes  shone  out  for 
us  like  suns,  in  the  dark,  and  brought  us  strength 
when  nothing  else  could  sustain  us.  If  they  are  not 
truths,  of  course  they  will  have  to  go.  But  they 
are  not  to  be  abandoned  easily.  They  are  inter- 
woven with  our  very  lives.  To  part  with  them  is  a 
resolution  not  to  be  lightly  undertaken. 

The  argument  of  experience  is  of  no  avail  to 
convince  others,  but  is  valid  for  ourselves.  A  man 
has  a  perfect  right  to  say,  "  I  have  heard  Him  my- 
self, and  I  know  that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world."  A  Christian  may  wisely 
decline  to  enter  on  the  consideration  of  many  moot 
questions  which  he  may  feel  himself  incompetent  to 
handle,  and  rest  upon  the  fact  that  Christ  has  saved 
his  soul.  The  blind  man  beat  the  Pharisees  in 
logic  when  he  sturdily  took  his  stand  on  experience, 


Col.  i.  22,'  23.1    PURPOSE  OF  RECONCILIA  TION,  x  13 


and  refused  to  be  tempted  to  discuss  subjects  which 
he  did  not  understand,  or  to  allow  his  ignorance  to 
slacken  his  grasp  of  what  he  did  know.  "  Whether 
this  man  be  a  sinner  or  no,  I  know  not :  one  thing 
I  know,  that,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see." 
There  was  no  answering  that,  so  by  excommuni- 
cating him  they  confessed  themselves  beaten. 

A  second  encouragement  to  stedfast  adherence 
to  the  Gospel  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  "  was  preached 
in  all  creation  under  heaven."  We  need  not  be 
pedantic  about  literal  accuracy,  and  may  allow  that 
the  statement  has  a  rhetorical  colouring.  But  what 
the  Apostle  means  is,  that  the  gospel  had  spread 
so  widely,  through  so  many  phases  of  civilisation, 
and  had  proved  its  power  by  touching  men  so 
unlike  each  other  in  mental  furniture  and  habits, 
that  it  had  showed  itself  to  be  a  word  for  the  whole 
race.  It  is  the  same  thought  as  we  have  already 
found  in  verse  6.  His  implied  exhortation  is,  "  Be 
not  moved  away  from  what  belongs  to  humanity 
by  teachings  which  can  only  belong  to  a  class." 
All  errors  are  transient  in  duration  and  limited  in 
area.  One  addresses  itself  to  one  class  of  men, 
another  to  another.  Each  false,  or  exaggerated,  or 
partial  representation  of  religious  truth,  is  congenial 
to  some  group  with  idiosyncrasies  of  temperament 
or  mind.  Different  tastes  like  different  spiced 
meats,  but  the  gospel,  "  human  nature's  daily  food," 
is  the  bread  of  God  that  everybody  can  relish,  and 
which  everybody  must  have  for  healthy  life.  What 
only  a  certain  class  or  the  men  of  one  generation 
or  of  one  stage  of  culture  can  find  nourishment 
in,  cannot  be  meant  for  all  men.  But  the  great 
message   of  God's   love   in  Jesus    Christ   commends 

8 


114  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

itself  to  US  because  it  can  go  into  any  corner  of 
the  world,  and  there,  upon  all  sorts  of  people,  work 
its  wonders.  So  we  will  sit  down  with  the  women 
and  children  upon  the  green  grass,  and  eat  of  iU 
however  fastidious  people  whose  appetites  have 
been  spoiled  by  high-spiced  meat,  may  find  it  coarse 
and  insipid.  It  would  feed  them  too,  if  they  would 
try — but  whatever  they  may  do,  let  us  take  it  as 
more  than  our  necessary  food. 

The  last  of  these  subsidiary  encouragements  to 
stedfastness  lies  in,  "  whereof  I  Paul  was  made  a 
minister.'*  This  is  not  merely  an  appeal  to  their 
affection  for  him,  though  that  is  perfectly  legitimate. 
Holy  words  may  be  holier  because  dear  lips  have 
taught  them  to  us,  and  even  the  truth  of  God  may 
allowably  have  a  firmer  hold  upon  our  hearts  be- 
cause of  our  love  for  some  who  have  ministered 
it  to  us.  It  is  a  poor  commentary  on  a  preacher's 
work  if,  after  long  service  to  a  congregation,  his 
words  do  not  come  with  power  given  to  them  by 
old  affection  and  confidence.  The  humblest  teacher 
who  has  done  his  Master's  errand  will  have  some  to 
whom  he  can  appeal  as  Paul  did,  and  urge  them  to 
keep  hold  of  the  message  which  he  has  preached. 

But  there  is  more  than  that  in  the  Apostle's 
mind.  He  was  accustomed  to  quote  the  fact  that 
he,  the  persecutor,  had  been  made  the  messenger  of 
Christ,  as  a  living  proof  of  the  infinite  mercy  and 
power  of  that  ascended  Lord,  whom  his  eyes  saw  on 
the  road  to  Damascus.  So  here,  he  puts  stress  on 
the  fact  that  he  lecame  a.  minister  of  the  gospel,  as 
being  an  "  evidence  of  Christianity."  The  history  of 
his  conversion  is  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  of  the 
resurrection  and    ascension   of  Jesus    Christ.     You 


Col. i. 22, 23]    PURPOSE   OF  RECONCILIATION,  115 

know,  he  seems  to  say,  what  turned  me  from  being 
a  persecutor  into  an  apostle.  It  was  because  I  saw 
the  living  Christ,  and  "  heard  the  words  of  His 
mouth,"  and,  I  beseech  you,  listen  to  no  words 
which  make  His  dominion  less  sovereign,  and  His 
sole  and  all  sufficient  work  on  the  cross  less  mighty 
as  the  only  power  that  knits  earth  to  heaven. 

So  the  sum  of  this  whole  matter  is — abide  in 
Christ.  Let  us  root  and  ground  our  lives  and 
characters  in  Him,  and  then  God's  inmost  desire  will 
be  gratified  in  regard  to  us,  and  He  will  bring  even 
us  stainless  and  blameless  into  the  blaze  of  His 
presence.  There  we  shall  all  have  to  stand,  and 
let  that  all-penetrating  light  search  us  through  and 
through.  How  do  we  expect  to  be  then  "  found  of 
Him  in  peace,  without  spot  and  blameless  "  ?  There 
is  but  one  way — to  live  in  constant  exercise  of  faith 
in  Christ,  and  grip  Him  so  close  and  sure  that  the 
world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil  cannot  make  us  loosen 
our  fingers.  Then  He  will  hold  us  up,  and  His 
great  purpose,  which  brought  Him  to  earth,  and 
nailed  Him  to  the  cross,  will  be  fulfilled  in  us,  and 
at  last,  we  shall  lift  up  voices  of  wondering  praise 
**  to  Him  who  is  able  to  keep  us  from  falling,  and  to 
present  us  faultless  before  the  presence  of  His  glory 
with  exceeding  joy." 


VIII. 

JOY  IN  SUFFERING,   AND   TRIUMPH  IN  THE 
MANIFESTED  MYSTERY. 

"  Now  I  rejoice  in  my  sufferings  for  your  sake,  and  fill  up  on  my  part 
that  which  is  lacking  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  my  flesh  for  His 
body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church  ;  whereof  I  was  made  a  minister 
according  to  the  dispensation  of  God  which  was  given  me  to  you-ward 
to  fulfil  the  word  of  God,  even  the  mystery  which  hath  been  hid  from 
all  ages  and  generations ;  but  now  hath  it  been  manifested  to  His 
Saints,  to  Whom  God  was  pleased  to  make  known  what  is  the  riches 
of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles,  which  is  Christ  in  you, 
the  hope  of  glory." — CoL.  i.  24-27  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THERE  are  scarcly  any  personal  references  in 
this  Epistle,  until  we  reach  the  last  chapter. 
In  this  respect  it  contrasts  strikingly  with  another 
of  Paul's  epistles  of  the  captivity,  that  to  the 
Philippians,  which  is  running  over  with  affection 
and  with  allusions  to  himself.  This  sparseness  of 
personal  details  strongly  confirms  the  opinion  that 
he  had  not  been  to  Colossae.  Here,  however,  we 
come  to  one  of  the  very  few  sections  which  may  be 
called  personal,  though  even  here  it  is  rather  Paul's 
office  than  himself  which  is  in  question.  He  is  led 
to  speak  of  himself  by  his  desire  to  enforce  his 
exhortations  to  faithful  continuance  in  the  gospel ; 
and,  as  is  so  often  the  case  with  him  in  touching 
on  his  apostleship,  he  as  it  were,  catches  fire,  and 
blazes  up  in  a  grand  flame,  which  sheds  a  bright 
light  on  his  lofty  enthusiasm  and  evangelistic,  fervour. 


Col. X. 24-27.]  JOY  m  SUFFERING,  117 

The  words  to  be  considered  now  are  plain  enough 
in  themselves,  but  they  are  run  together,  and  thought 
follows  thought  in  a  fashion  which  makes  them 
somewhat  obscure  ;  and  there  are  also  one  or  two 
difficulties  in  single  words  which  require  to  be 
cleared  up.  We  shall  perhaps  best  bring  out  the 
course  of  thought  by  dealing  with  these  verses  in 
three  groups,  of  which  the  three  words.  Suffering, 
Service,  and  Mystery,  are  respectively  the  centres. 
First,  we  have  a  remarkable  view  taken  by  the 
prisoner  of  the  meaning  of  his  sufferings,  as  being 
endured  for  the  Church.  That  leads  him  to  speak  of 
his  relation  to  the  Church  generally  as  being  that  of 
a  servant  or  steward  appointed  by  God,  to  bring  to 
its  completion  the  work  of  God  ;  and  then,  as  I  said, 
he  takes  fire,  and,  forgetting  himself,  flames  up  in 
rapturous  magnifying  of  the  grand  message  hid  so 
long,  and  now  entrusted  to  him  to  preach.  So  we 
have  his  Sufferings  for  the  Church,  his  service  of 
Stewardship  to  the  Church,  and  the  great  Mystery 
which  in  that  stewardship  he  had  to  unveil.  It  may 
help  us  to  understand  both  Paul  and  his  message,  as' 
well  as  our  own  tasks  and  trials,  if  we  try  to  grasp 
his  thoughts  here  about  his  work  and  his  sorrows. 

I.  We  have  the  Apostle's  triumphant  contempla- 
tion of  his  sufferings.  "  I  rejoice  in  my  sufferings 
for  your  sake,  and  fill  up  on  my  part  that  which  is 
lacking  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  my  flesh  for 
His  body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church." 

The  Revised  Version,  following  the  best  authori- 
ties, omits  the  "  who  "  with  which  the  Authorized 
Version  begins  this  verse,  and  marks  a  new  sentence 
and  paragraph,  as  is  obviously  right. 

The   very    first    word    is    significant :    "  Now    I 


ii8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

rejoice."  Ay  ;  it  is  easy  to  say  fine  things  about 
patience  in  sufferings  and  triumph  in  sorrow  when 
we  are  prosperous  and  comfortable  ;  but  it  is 
different  when  we  are  in  the  furnace.  This  man, 
with  the  chain  on  his  wrist,  and  the  iron  entering 
into  his  soul,  with  his  life  in  danger,  and  all  the 
future  uncertain,  can  say,  "  Now  I  rejoice."  This 
bird  sings  in  a  darkened  cage. 

Then  come  startling  words,  "  I  on  my  part  fill  up 
that  which  is  lacking  (a  better  rendering  than  'behind') 
of  the  afflictions  of  Christ."  It  is  not  surprising  that 
many  explanations  of  these  words  have  tried  to 
soften  down  their  boldness  ;  as,  for  instance,  "  afflic- 
tions borne  for  Christ,"  or  "  imposed  by  Him,"  or 
"  like  His."  But  it  seems  very  clear  that  the 
startling  meaning  is  the  plain  meaning,  and  that 
"  the  sufferings  of  Christ "  here,  as  everywhere  else, 
are  "  the  sufferings  borne  by  Christ." 

Then  at  once  the  questions  start  up,  Does  Paul 
mean  to  say  that  in  any  sense  whatever  the  suffer- 
ings which  Christ  endured  have  anything  "  lacking  " 
in  them  ?  or  does  he  mean  to  say  that  a  Christian 
man's  sufferings,  however  they  may  benefit  the 
Church,  can  be  put  alongside  of  the  Lord's,  and 
taken  to  eke  out  the  incompleteness  of  His,?  Surely 
that  cannot  be !  Did  He  not  say  on  the  cross, 
"It  is  finished"?  Surely  that  sacrifice  needs  no 
supplement,  and  can  receive  none,  but  stands  "the 
one  sacrifice  for  sins  for  ever " !  Surely,  His 
sufferings  are  absolutely  singular  in  nature  and 
effect,  unique  and  all-sufficient  and  eternal.  And 
does  this  Apostle,  the  very  heart  of  whose  gospel 
was  that  these  were  the  life  of  the  world,  mean  to 
say  that  anything  which  he  endures  can  be  tacked 


Col.  i.  24-27.]  JOY  IN  SUFFERING  119 

on  to  them,  a  bit  of  the  old  rags  to  the  new  gar- 
ment ? 

Distinctly  not !  To  say  so  would  be  contradictory 
of  the  whole  spirit  and  letter  of  the  Apostle's  teach- 
ing. But  there  is  no  need  to  suppose  that  he  means 
anything  of  the  sort  There  is  an  idea  frequently 
presented  in  Scripture,  which  gives  full  meaning  to 
the  words,  and  is  in  full  accordance  with  Pauline 
teaching ;  ^namely,  that  Christ  truly  participates  in 
the  sufferings  of  His  people  borne  for  Him.  He 
suffers  with  them.  The  head  feels  the  pangs  of  all 
the  members  ;  and  every  ache  may  be  thought  of  as 
belonging,  not  only  to  the  limb  where  it  is  located, 
but  to  the  brain  which  is  conscious  of  it  The  pains 
and  sorrows  and  troubles  of  His  friends  and  followers 
to  the  end  of  time  are  one  great  whole.  Each  sorrow 
of  each  Christian  heart  is  one  drop  more  added  to 
the  contents  of  the  measure  which  has  to  be  filled  to 
the  brim,  ere  the  purposes  of  the  Father  who  leads 
through  suffering  to  rest  are  accomplished  ;  and  all 
belong  to  Him,  Whatsoever  pain  or  trial  is  borne 
in  fellowship  with  Him  is  felt  and  borne  by  Him. 
Community  of  sensation  is  established  between  Him 
and  us.  Our  sorrows  are  transferred  to  Him.  "  In 
all  our  afflictions  He  is  afflicted,"  both  by  His  mys- 
tical but  most  real  oneness  with  us,  and  by  His 
brother's  sympathy. 

So  for  us  all,  and  not  for  the  Apostle  only,  the 
whole  aspect  of  our  sorrows  may  be  changed,  and  all 
poor  struggling  souls  in  this  valley  of  weeping  ma/ 
take  comfort  and  courage  from  the  wonderful  thought 
of  Christ's  union  with  us,  which  makes  our  griefs  His, 
and  our  pain  touch  Him.  Bruise  your  finger,  and  the 
pain  pricks  and  stabs  in  your  brain.     Strike  the  man 


I20  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

that  is  joined  to  Christ  here,  and  Christ  up  yonder 
feels  it.  "  He  that  toucheth  you  toucheth  the  apple 
of  His  eye."  Where  did  Paul  learn  this  deep  lesson, 
that  the  sufferings  of  Christ's  servants  were  Christ's 
sufferings?  I  wonder  whether,  as  he  wrote  these 
words  of  confident  yet  humble  identification  of  him- 
self the  persecuted  with  Christ  the  Lord,  there  came 
back  to  his  memory  what  he  heard  on  that  fateful 
day  as  he  rode  to  Damascus,  "  Saul,  Saul,  why  per- 
secutest  thou  Me  ? "  The  thought  so  crushing  to 
the  persecutor  had  become  balm  and  glory  to  the 
prisoner, — that  every  blow  aimed  at  the  servant  falls 
on  the  Master,  who  stoops  from  amid  the  glory  of 
the  throne  to  declare  that  whatsoever  is  done,  whether 
it  be  kindness  or  cruelty,  to  the  least  of  His  brethren, 
is  done  to  Him.  So  every  one  of  us  may  take  the 
comfort  and  strength  of  that  wonderful  assurance, 
and  roll  all  our  burdens  and  sorrows  on  Him. 

Again,  there  is  prominent  here  the  thought  that 
the  good  of  sorrow  does  not  end  with  the  sufferer. 
His  sufferings  are  borne  in  his  flesh  for  the  bodfs 
sake,  which  is  the  Church, — a  remarkable  antithesis 
between  the  Apostle's  flesh  in  which,  and  Christ's 
body  for  which,  the  sufferings  are  endured.  Every 
sorrow  rightly  borne,  as  it  will  be  when  Christ  is  felt 
to  be  bearing  it  with  us,  is  fruitful  of  blessing.  Paul's 
trials  were  in  a  special  sense  "  for  His  body's  sake," 
for  of  course,  if  he  had  not  preached  the  gospel,  he 
would  have  escaped  them  all;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
they  have  been  especially  fruitful  of  good,  for  if  he 
had  not  been  persecuted,  he  would  never  have  written 
these  precious  letters  from  Rome.  The  Church  owes 
much  to  the  violence  which  has  shut  up  confessors 
in  dungeons.     Its  prison  literature,  beginning  with 


Col. i.  24-27.]  JOY  m  ^UT'FERING,  I2i 

this  letter,  and  ending  with  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  has 
been  among  its  most  cherished  treasures. 

But  the  same  thing  is  true  about  us  all,  though  it 
may  be  in  a  narrower  sphere.  No  man  gets  good 
for  himself  alone  out  of  his  sorrows.  Whatever 
purifies  and  makes  gentler  and  more  Christlike,  what- 
ever teaches  or  builds  up — and  sorrows  rightly  borne 
do  all  these — is  for  the  common  good.  Be  our  trials 
great  or  small,  be  they  minute  and  every-day — like 
gnats  that  hum  about  us  in  clouds,  and  may  be  swept 
away  by  the  hand,  and  irritate  rather  than  hurt 
where  they  sting — or  be  they  huge  and  formidable, 
like  the  viper  that  clings  to  the  wrist  and  poisons 
the  life  blood,  they  are  meant  to  give  us  good  gifts, 
which  we  may  transmit  to  the  narrow  circle  of  our 
homes,  and  in  ever  widening  rings  of  influence  to  all 
around  us.  Have  we  never  known  a  household,  where 
some  chronic  invalid,  lying  helpless  perhaps  on  a 
sofa,  was  a  source  of  the  highest  blessing  and  the 
centre  of  holy  influence,  that  made  every  member  of 
the  family  gentler,  more  self-denying  and  loving.? 
We  shall  never  understand  our  sorrows,  unless  we 
try  to  answer  the  question,  What  good  to  others  is 
meant  to  come  through  me  by  this  ?  Alas,  that  grief 
should  so  often  be  self-absorbed,  even  more  than  joy 
is  !  The  heart  sometimes  opens  to  unselfish  sharing 
of  its  gladness  with  others  ;  but  it  too  often  shuts 
tight  over  its  sorrow,  and  seeks  solitary  indulgence 
in  the  luxury  of  woe.  Let  us  learn  that  our  brethren 
claim  benefit  from  our  trials,  as  well  as  from  our 
good  things,  and  seek  to  ennoble  our  griefs  by 
bearing  them  for  "  His  body's  sake,  which  is  the 
Church." 

Christ's  sufferings  on  His  cross  are  the  satisfac- 


12*  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

tion  for  a  world's  sins,  and  in  that  view  can  have 
no  supplement,  and  stand  alone  in  kind.  But  His 
"  afflictions  " — a  word  which  would  not  naturally  be 
applied  to  His  death — do  operate  also  to  set  the 
pattern  of  holy  endurance,  and  to  teach  many  a 
lesson  ;  -and  in  that  view  every  suffering  borne  for 
Him  and  with  Him  may  be  regarded  as  associated 
with  His,  and  helping  to  bless  the  Church  and  the 
world.  God  makes  the  rough  iron  of  our  natures 
into  shining,  flexible,  sharp  steel,  by  heavy  hammers 
and  hot  furnaces,  that  He  may  shape  us  as  His 
instruments  to  help  and  heal. 

It  is  of  great  moment  that  we  should  have  such 
thoughts  of  our  sorrows  whilst  their  pressure  is  upon 
us,  and  not  only  when  they  are  past.  "  I  now  re- 
joice." Most  of  us  have  had  to  let  years  stretch 
between  us  and  the  blow  before  we  could  attain  to 
that  clear  insight.  We  can  look  back  and  see  how 
our  past  sorrows  tended  to  bless  us,  and  how  Christ 
was  with  us  in  them :  but  as  for  this  one,  that 
burdens  us  to-day,  we  cannot  make  it  out.  We  can 
even  have  a  solemn  thankfulness  not  altogether 
unlike  joy  as  we  look  on  those  wounds  that  we 
remember ;  but  how  hard  it  is  to  feel  it  about  those 
that  pain  us  now !  There  is  but  one  way  to  secure 
that  calm  wisdom,  which  feels  their  meaning  even 
while  they  sting  and  burn,  and  can  smile  through 
tears,  as  sorrowful  and  yet  always  rejoicing ;  and  that 
is  to  keep  in  very  close  communion  with  our  Lord. 
Then,  even  when  we  are  in  the  whitest  heat  of  the 
furnace,  we  may  have  the  Son  of  man  with  us  ;  and 
if  we  have,  the  fiercest  flames  will  burn  up  nothing 
but  the  chains  that  bind  us,  and  we  shall  "  walk  at 
liberty  "  in  that  terrible  heat,  because  we  walk  with 


Col. i.  24-27.]  JOY  IN  SUFFERING,  123 

Him.  It  is  a  high  attainment  of  Christian  fortitude 
and  faith  to  feel  the  blessed  meaning,  not  only  of  the 
six  tribulations  which  are  past,  but  of  the  present 
seventh,  and  to  say,  even  while  the  iron  is  entering 
the  quivering  flesh,  "  I  now  rejoice  in  my  sufferings," 
and  try  to  turn  them  to  others'  good. 

II.  These  thoughts  naturally  lead  on  to  the  state- 
ment of  the  Apostle's  lowly  and  yet  lofty  conception 
of  his  office — "  whereof  (that  is,  of  which  Church)  I 
was  made  a  minister,  according  to  the  dispensation 
of  God,  which  was  given  me  to  you- ward,  to  fulfil 
the  word  of  God." 

The  first  words  of  this  clause  are  used  at  the  close 
of  the  preceding  section  inverse  23,  but  the  "where- 
of" there  refers  to  the  gospel,  not  as  here  to  the 
Church.  He  is  the  servant  of  both,  and  because  he 
is  the  servant  of  the  Church  he  suffers,  as  he  has 
been  saying.  The  representation  of  himself  as 
servant  gives  the  reason  for  the  conduct  described 
in  the  previous  clause.  Then  the  next  words  ex- 
plain what  makes  him  the  Church's  servant.  He  is 
so  in  accordance  with,  or  in  pursuance  of,  the  steward- 
ship, or  office  of  administrator,  of  His  household,  to 
which  God  has  called  him,  "to  you-ward,"  that  is  to 
say,  with  especial  reference  to  the  Gentiles.  And 
the  final  purpose  of  his  being  made  a  steward  is  "  to 
fulfil  the  word  of  God  "  ;  by  which  is  not  meant  "to 
accomplish  or  bring  to  pass  its  predictions,"  but  "  to 
bring  it  to  completion,"  or  "  to  give  full  development 
to  it,"  and  that  possibly  in  the  sense  of  preaching  it 
fully,  without  reserve,  and  far  and  wide  throughout 
the  whole  world. 

So  lofty  and  yet  so  lowly  was  Paul's  thought  of 
his  office.     He  was  the  Church's  servant,  and  there- 


124  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS. 

fore  bound  to  suffer  cheerfully  for  its  sake.  He  was 
so,  because  a  high  honour  had  been  conferred  on 
him  by  God,  nothing  less  than  the  stewardship  of 
His  great  household  the  Church,  in  which  he  had 
to  give  to  every  man  his  portion,  and  to  exercise 
authority.  He  is  the  Church's  servant  indeed,  but 
it  is  because  he  is  the  Lord's  steward.  And  the 
purpose  of  his  appointment  goes  far  beyond  the 
interests  of  any  single  Church  ;  for  while  his  office 
sends  him  especially  to  the  Colossians,  its  scope  is 
as  wide  as  the  world. 

One  great  lesson  to  be  learned  from  these  words 
is  that  Stewardship  means  service  ;  and  we  may 
add  that,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  service  means 
suffering.  What  Paul  says,  if  we  put  it  into  more 
familiar  language,  is  just  this :  "  Because  God  has 
given  me  something  that  I  can  impart  to  others,  I 
am  their  servant,  and  bound,  not  only  by  my  duty 
to  Him,  but  by  my  duty  to  them,  to  labour  that 
they  may  receive  the  treasure."  That  is  true  for 
us  all.  Every  gift  from  the  great  Householder  in- 
volves the  obligation  to  impart  it.  It  makes  us  His 
stewards  and  our  brethren's  servants.  We  have 
that  we  may  give.  The  possessions  are  the  House- 
holder's, not  ours,  even  after  He  has  given  them  to 
us.  He  gives  us  truths  of  various  kinds  in  our 
minds,  the  gospel  in  our  hearts,  influence  from  our 
position,  money  in  our  pockets,  not  to  lavish  on 
self,  nor  to  hide  and  gloat  over  in  secret,  but  that 
we  may  transmit  His  gifts,  and  "  God's  grace 
fructify  through  us  to  all."  "  It  is  required  of 
stewards  that  a  man  be  found  faithful  " ;  and  the 
heaviest  charge,  "  that  he  had  wasted  his  Lord's 
goods,"  lies  against  every  one  of  us  who  does  not 


Col. i.  24-27.]  JOY  IN  SUFFERING.  125 


use  all  that  he  possesses,  whether  of  material  or 
intellectual  or  spiritual  wealth,  for  the  common 
advantage. 

But  that  common  obligation  of  stewardship  presses 
with  special  force  on  those  who  say  that  they  are 
Christ's  servants.  If  we  are,  we  know  something 
of  His  love  and  have  felt  something  of  His  power ; 
and  there  are  hundreds  of  people  around  us,  many  of 
whom  we  can  influence,  who  know  nothing  of  either. 
That  fact  makes  us  their  servants,  not  in  the  sense  j 
of  being  under  their  control,  or  of  taking  orders  I 
from  them,  but  in  the  sense  of  gladly  working  for' 
them,  and  recognising  our  obligation  to  help  them. 
Our  resources  may  be  small.  The  Master  of  the 
house  may  have  entrusted  us  with  little.  Perhaps 
we  are  like  the  boy  with  the  five  barley  loaves  and 
two  small  fishes  ;  but  even  if  we  had  only  a  bi't  of 
the  bread  and  a  tail  of  one  of  the  fishes,  we  must 
not  eat  our  morsel  alone.  Give  it  those  who  have 
none,  and  it  will  multiply  as  it  is  distributed,  like 
the  barrel  of  meal,  which  did  not  fail  because  its 
poor  owner  shared  it  with  the  still  poorer  prophet. 
Give,  and  not  only  give,  but  "  pray  them  with  much 
entreaty  to  receive  the  gift " ;  for  men  need  to  have 
the  true  Bread  pressed  on  them,  and  they  will  often 
throw  it  back,  or  drop  it  over  a  wall,  as  soon  as 
your  back  is  turned,  as  beggars  do  in  our  streets. 
We  have  to  win  them  by  showing  that  we  are  their 
servants,  before  they  will  take  what  we  have  to  give. 
Besides  this,  if  stewardship  is  service,  service  is  often 
suffering  ;  and  he  will  not  clear  himself  of  his  obli- 
gations to  his  fellows,  or  of  his  responsibility  to  his 
Master,  who  shrinks  from  seeking  to  make  known  the 
love  of  Christ  to  his  brethren,  because  he  has  often  to 


126  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS. 

"  go  forth  weeping "  whilst  he  bears  the  precious 
seed." 

III.  So  we  come  to  the  last  thought  here,  which 
is  of  the  grand  Mystery  of  which  Paul  is  the  Apostle 
and  Servant.  Paul  always  catches  fire  when  he 
comes  to  think  of  the  universal  destination  of  the 
gospel,  and  of  the  honour  put  upon  him  as  the  man 
to  whom  the  task  was  entrusted  of  transforming  the 
Church  from  a  Jewish  sect  to  a  world-wide  society. 
That  great  thought  now  sweeps  him  away  from  his 
more  immediate  object,  and  enriches  us  with  a  burst 
which  we  could  ill  spare  from  the  letter. 

His  task,  he  says,  is  to  give  its  full  development 
to  the  word  of  God,  to  proclaim  a  certain  mystery 
long  hid,  but  now  revealed  to  those  who  are  conse- 
crated to  God.  To  these  it  has  been  God's  good 
pleasure  to  show  the  wealth  of  glory  which  is  con- 
tained in  this  mystery,  as  exhibited  among  the 
Gentile  Christians,  which  mystery  is  nothing  else 
than  the  fact  that  Christ  dwells  in  or  among  these 
Gentiles,  of  whom  the  Colossians  are  part,  and  by 
His  dwelling  in  them  gives  them  the  confident  ex- 
pectation of  future  glory. 

The  mystery  then  of  which  the  Apostle  speaks 
so  rapturously  is  the  fact  that  the  Gentiles  were 
fellow-heirs  and  partakers  of  Christ.  "  Mystery " 
is  a  word  borrowed  from  the  ancient  systems,  in 
which  certain  rites  and  doctrines  were  communicated 
to  the  initiated.  There  are  several  allusions  to 
them  in  Paul's  writings,  as  for  instance  in  the 
passage  in  Philippians  iv.  12,  which  the  Revised 
Version  gives  as  "  I  have  learned  the  secret  both  to 
be  filled  and  to  be  hungry,"  and  probably  in  the 
immediate  context  here,  where  the  characteristic  word 


Col.  i.  24-27.]  JOY  IN  SUFFERING.  127 

"  perfect "  means  "  initiated.''  Portentous  theories 
which  have  no  warrant  have  been  spun  out  of  this 
word.  The  Greek  mysteries  implied  secrecy;  the/ 
rites  were  done  in  deep  obscurity ;  the  esoteric  | 
doctrines  were  muttered  in  the  ear.  The  Christian 
mysteries  are  spoken  on  the  housetop,  nor  does  the 
word  imply  an)'thing  as  to  the  comprehensibility  of 
the  doctrines  or  facts  which  are  so  called. 

We  talk  about  "  mysteries,"  meaning  thereby  ^y 
truths  that  transcend  human  faculties  ;  but  the  New 
Testament  "mystery"  may  be,  and  most  frequently 
is,  a  fact  perfectly  comprehensible  when  once  spoken. 
"  Behold  I  show  you  a  mystery  :  We  shall  not  all 
sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed."  There  is  nothing 
incomprehensible  in  that.  We  should  never  have 
known  it  if  we  had  not  been  told  ;  but  when  told 
it  is  quite  level  with  our  faculties.  And  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  word  is  most  frequently  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  notion,  not  of  concealment,  but  of 
declaring.  We  find  too  that  it  occurs  frequently 
in  this  Epistle,  and  in  the  parallel  letter  to  the 
Ephesians,  and  in  every  instance  but  one  refers  as  it 
does  here,  to  a  fact  which  was  perfectly  plain  and 
comprehensible  when  once  made  known  ;  namely, 
the  entrance  of  the  Gentiles  into  the  Church. 

If  that  be  the  true  meaning  of  the  word,  then  "  a 
steward  of  the  mysteries  "  will  simply  mean  a  man 
who  has  truths,  formerly  unknown  but  now  revealed, 
in  charge  to  make  known  to  all  who  will  hearken, 
and  neither  the  claims  of  a  priesthood  nor  the  demand 
for  the  unquestioning  submission  of  the  intellect 
have  any  foundation  in  this  much  abused  term. 

But  turning  from  this,  we  may  briefly  consider 
what  was  the  substance  o/"  this  grand  mystery  which 


128  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  CO  LOSS  TAN'S. 

thrilled  Paul's  soul.  It  is  the  wonderful  fact  that 
all  barriers  were  broken  down,  and  that  Christ  dwelt 
in  the  hearts  of  these  Colossians.  He  saw  in  that 
the  proof  and  the  prophecy  of  the  world-wide  des- 
tination of  the  gospel.  No  wonder  that  his  heart 
burned  as  he  thought  of  the  marvellous  work  which 
God  had  wrought  by  him.  For  there  is  no  greater 
revolution  in  the  history  of  the  world  than  that 
accomplished  through  him,  the  cutting  loose  of 
Christianity  from  Judaism  and  widening  the  Church 
to  the  width  of  the  race.  No  wonder  that  he 
was  misunderstood  and  hated  by  Jewish  Christians 
all   his  days  ! 

He  thinks  of  these  once  heathens  and  now  Christians 
at  Colossae,  far  away  in  their  lonely  valley,  and  of 
many  another  little  community — in  Judaea,  Asia, 
Greece,  and  Italy  ;  and  as  he  thinks  of  how  a  real 
solid  bond  of  brotherhood  bound  them  together  in 
spite  of  their  differences  of  race  and  culture,  the 
vision  of  the  oneness  of  mankind  in  the  Cross  of 
Christ  shines  out  before  him,  as  no  man  had  ever 
seen  it  till  then,  and  he  triumphs  in  the  sorrows  that 
had  helped  to  bring  about  the  great  result. 

That  dwelling  of  Christ  among  the  Gentiles 
reveals  the  exuberant  abundance  of  glory  To  him 
the  "  mystery  "  was  all  running  over  with  riches,  and 
blazing  with  fresh  radiance.  To  us  it  is  familiar 
and  somewhat  worn.  The  "  vision  splendid,"  which 
was  manifestly  a  revelation  of  hitherto  unknown 
Divine  treasures  of  mercy  and  lustrous  light  when  it 
first  dawned  on  the  Apostle's  sight,  has  "faded" 
somewhat  "into  the  light  of  common  day"  for  us, 
to  whoni  the  centuries  since  have  shewn  so  slow  a 
progress.     But  let   us   not  lose  more  than  we  can 


Col.  i.  24-27.  JOY  m  SUFFERING.  129 

help,  either  by  our  famih'arlty  with  the  thought,  or 
by  the  discouragements  arising  from  the  chequered 
history  of  its  partial  realization.  Christianity  is  still 
the  only  religion  which  has  been  able  to  make  per- 
manent conquests.  It  is  the  only  one  that  has 
been  able  to  disregard  latitude  and  longitude,  and 
to  address  and  guide  condition  of  civilization  and 
modes  of  life  quite  unlike  those  of  its  origin.  It  is 
the  only  one  that  sets  itself  the  task  of  conquering 
the  world  without  the  sword,  and  has  kept  true  to 
the  design  for  centuries.  It  is  the  only  one  whose 
claims  to  be  world-wide  in  its  adaptation  and 
destiny  would  not  be  laughed  out  of  court  by  its 
history.  It  is  the  only  one  which  is  to-day  a 
missionary  religion.  And  so,  notwithstanding  the 
long  centuries  of  arrested  growth  and  the  wide  tracts 
of  remaining  darkness,  the  mystery  which  fired 
Paul's  enthusiasm  is  still  able  to  kindle  ours,  and 
the  wealth  of  glory  that  lies  in  it  has  not  been  im- 
poverished nor  stricken  with  eclipse. 

One  last  thought  is  here, — that  the  possession  of 
Christ  is  the  pledge  of  future  blessedness.  "  Hope" 
here  seems  to  be  equivalent  to  "  the  source "  or 
"  ground  "  of  the  hope.  If  we  have  the  experience 
of  His  dwelling  in  our  hearts,  we  shall  have,  in  that 
very  experience  of  His  sweetness  and  of  the  intimacy 
of  His  love,  a  marvellous  quickener  of  our  hope  that 
such  sweetness  and  intimacy  will  continue  for  ever. 
The  closer  we  keep  to  Him,  the  clearer  will  be  our 
vision  of  future  blessedness.  If  He  is  throned  in 
our  hearts,  we  shall  be  able  to  look  forward  with  a 
hope,  which  is  not  less  than  certainty,  to  the  per- 
petual continuance  of  His  hold  of  us  and  of  our 
blessedness  in  Him.     Anything  seems  more  credible 

9 


I30  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

to  a  man  who  habitually  has  Christ  abiding  in  him, 
than  that  such^  a  trifle  as  death  should  have  power 
to  end  such  a  union.  To  have  Him  is  to  have  life. 
To  have  Him  will  be  heaven.  To  have  Him  is  to 
have  a  hope  certain  as  memory  and  careless  of 
death  or  change. 

That  hope  is  offered  to  us  all.  If  by  our  faith 
in  His  great  sacrifice  we  grasp  the  great  truth  of 
"  Christ  for  us,"  our  fears  will  be  scattered,  sin  and 
guilt  taken  away,  death  abolished,  condemnation 
ended,  the  future  a  hope  and  not  a  dread.  If  by 
communion  with  Him  through  faith,  love,  and 
obedience,  we  have  "  Christ  in  us,"  our  purity  will 
grow,  and  our  experience  will  be  such  as  plainly 
to  demand  eternity  to  complete  its  incompleteness 
and  to  bring  its  folded  buds  to  flower  and  fruit.  If 
Christ  be  in  us,  His  life  guarantees  ours,  and  we 
cannot  die  whilst  He  lives.  The  world  has  come, 
in  the  persons  of  its'  leading  thinkers,  to  the  position 
of  proclaiming  that  all  is  dark  beyond  and  above. 
"  Behold  !  we  know  not  anything,"  is  the  dreary 
"  end  of  the  whole  matter  " — infinitely  sadder  than 
the  old  Ecclesiastes,  which  from  "vanity  of  vanities" 
climbed  to  "  fear  God  and  keep  His  command- 
ments," as  the  sum  of  human  thought  and  life. 
"  I  find  no  God  ;  I  know  no  future."  Yes  !  Paul 
long  ago  told  us  that  if  we  were  "  without  Christ  " 
we  should  "  have  no  hope,  and  be  without  God  in 
the  world."  And  cultivated  Europe  is  finding  out 
that  to  fling  away  Christ  and  to  keep  a  faith  in  God 
or  in  a  future  life  is  impossible. 

But  if  we  will  take  Him  for  our  Saviour  by 
simple  trust.  He  will  give  us  His  own  presence  in 
our  hearts,  and  infuse  there  a  hope  full  of  immor- 


Col.  j.  24-27.]  JOY  IN  SUFFERING.  131 

tality.  If  we  live  in  close  communion  with  Him, 
we  shall  need  no  other  assurance  of  an  eternal  life 
beyond  than  that  deep,  calm  blessedness  springing 
from  the  imperfect  fellowship  of  earth  which  must 
needs  lead  to  and  be  lost  in  the  everlasting  and 
completed  union  of  heaven. 


fX. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY  IN  ITS  THEME,  METHODS 
AND  AIM, 

**Whom  we  proclaim,  admonishing  every  man  and  teaching  every 
man  in  all  wisdom,  that  we  may  present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ; 
whereunto  I  labour  also,  striving  according  to  His  working,  which 
worketh  in  me  mightily," — CoL.  i.  28,  29  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THE  false  teachers  at  Colossse  had  a  great  deal 
to  say  about  a  higher  wisdom  reserved  for  the 
initiated.  They  apparently  treated  the  Apostolic 
teaching  as  trivial  rudiments,  which  might  be  good 
for  the  vulgar  crowd,  but  were  known  by  the  pos- 
sessors of  this  higher  truth  to  be  only  a  veil  for  it. 
They  had  their  initiated  class,  to  whom  their  mys- 
teries were  entrusted  in  whispers. 

Such  absurdities  excited  Paul's  special  abhorrence. 
His  whole  soul  rejoiced  in  a  gospel  for  all  men. 
He  had  broken  with  Judaism  on  the  very  ground 
that  it  sought  to  enforce  a  ceremonial  exclusiveness, 
and  demanded  circumcision  and  ritual  observances 
along  with  faith.  That  was,  in  Paul's  estimate,  to 
destroy  the  gospel.  These  Eastern  dreamers  at 
Colossse  were  trying  to  enforce  an  intellectual  ex- 
clusiveness quite  as  much,  opposed  to  the  gospel. 
Paul  fights  with  all  his  might  against  that  error. 
Its  presence  in  the  Church  colours  this  context, 
where  he  uses  the  very  phrases  of  the  false  teachers 


Col.  i.  28,  29.]      THE   CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  133 

in  order  to  assert  the  great  principles  which  he 
opposes  to  their  teaching.  "  Mystery,"  "  perfect "  or 
initiated,  "  wisdom," — these  are  the  key-words  of  the 
system  which  he  is  combating ;  and  here  he  presses 
them  into  the  service  of  the  principle  that  the  gospel 
is  for  all  men,  and  the  most  recondite  secrets  of  its 
deepest  truth  the  property  of  every  single  soul  that 
■wills  to  receive  them.  Yes,  he  says  in  effect,  we 
have  mysteries.  We  have  our  initiated.  We  have 
wisdom.  But  we  have  no  whispered  teachings,  con- 
fined to  a  little  coterie ;  we  have  no  inner  chamber 
closed  to  the  many.  We  are  not  muttering  hiero- 
phants,  cautiously  revealing  a  little  to  a  few,  and 
fooling  the  rest  with  ceremonies  and  words.  Our 
whole  business  is  to  tell  out  as  fully  and  loudly  as 
we  can  what  we  know  of  Christ,  to  tell  to  every  man 
all  the  wisdom  that  we  have  learned.  We  fling  open 
the  inmost  sanctuary,  and  invite  all  the  crowd  to  enter. 

This  is  the  general  scope  of  the  words  before  us 
which  state  the  object  and  methods  of  the  Apostle's 
work  ;  partly  in  order  to  point  the  contrast  with 
those  other  teachers,  and  partly  in  order  to  prepare 
the  way,  by  this  personal  reference,  for  his  subse- 
quent exhortations. 

I.  We  have  here  the  Apostle's  own  statement  of 
what  he  conceived  his  life  work  to  be. 

"  Whom  we  proclaim."  All  three  words  are  em- 
phatic. "  Whom,"  not  what — a  person,  not  a  system  ; 
we  "proclaim,"  not  we  argue  or  dissertate  about. 
"  We  "  preach — the  Apostle  associates  himself  with 
all  his  brethren,  puts  himself  in  line  with  them, 
points  to  the  unanimity  of  their  testimony — "  whether 
it  were  they  or  I,  so  we  preach."  We  have  all  one 
message,  a  common  type  of  doctrine. 


134  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

So  then — the  Christian  teacher's  theme  is  not  to 
be  a  theory  or  a  system,  but  a  living  Person.  One 
peculiarity  of  Christianity  is  that  you  cannot  take 
its  message,  and  put  aside  Christ,  the  speaker  of  the 
message,  as  you  may  do  with  all  men's  teachings. 
Some  people  say  :  "  We  take  the  great  moral  and 
religious  truths  which  Jesus  declared.  They  are  the 
all-important  parts  of  His  work.  We  can  disen- 
tangle them  from  any  further  connection  with  Him. 
It  matters  comparatively  little  who  first  spoke  them/* 
But  that  will  not  do.  His  person  is  inextricably 
intertwined  with  His  teaching,  for  a  very  large  part 
of  His  teaching  is  exclusively  concerned  with,  and 
all  of  it  centres  in.  Himself.  He  is  not  only  true, 
but  He  is  the  truth.  His  message  is,  not  only  what 
He  said  with  His  lips  about  God  and  man,  but 
also  what  He  said  about  Himself,  and  what  He  did 
in  His  life,  death,  and  resurrection.  You  may  take 
Buddha's  sayings,  if  you  can  make  sure  that  they 
are  his,  and  find  much  that  is  beautiful  and  true  in 
them,  whatever  you  may  think  of  him  ;  you  may 
appreciate  the  teaching  of  Confucius,  though  you 
know  nothing  about  him  but  that  he  said  so  and  so; 
but  you  cannot  do  thus  with  Jesus.  Our  Christianity 
takes  its  whole  colour  from  what  we  think  of  Him. 
If  we  think  of  Him  as  less  than  this  chapter  has 
been  setting  Him  forth  as  being,  we  shall  scarcely 
feel  that  He  should  be  the  preacher's  theme ;  but  if 
He  is  to  us  what  He  was  to  this  Apostle,  the  sole 
Revealer  of  God,  the  Centre  and  Lord  of  creation, 
the  Fountain  of  life  to  all  which  lives,  the  Reconciler 
of  men  with  God  by  the  blood  of  His  cross,  then 
the  one  message  which  a  man  may  be  thankful  to 
spend   his   life   in  proclaiming  will  be,  Behold   the 


Col.  i.  28,  29.]      THE   CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY,  135 

Lamb  !  Let  who  will  preach  abstractions,  the  true 
Christian  minister  has  to  preach  the  person  and  the 
ofilice — ^Jesus  the  Christ. 

To  preach  Christ  is  to  set  forth  the  person,  the 
facts  of  His  life  and  death,  and  to  accompany  these 
with  that  explanation  which  turns  them  from  being 
merely  a  biography  into  a  gospel.  So  much  of 
"  theory "  must  go  with  the  "  facts,"  or  they  will 
be  no  more  a  gospel  than  the  story  of  another  life 
would  be.  The  Apostle's  own  statement  of  "  the 
gospel  which  he  preached "  distinctly  lays  down 
what  is  needed — "  how  that  Jesus  Christ  died." 
That  is  biography,  and  to  say  that  and  stop  there 
is  not  to  preach  Christ ;  but  add,  "  For  our  sins, 
according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  that  He  was 
raised  again  the  third  day," — preach  that^  the  fact 
and  its  meaning  and  power,  and  you  will  preach 
Christ. 

Of  course  there  is  a  narrower  and  a  wider  sense 
of  this  expression.  There  is  the  initial  teaching, 
which  brings  to  a  soul,  who  has  never  seen  it  before, 
the  knowledge  of  a  Saviour,  whose  Cross  is  the 
propitiation  for  sin  ;  and  there  is  the  fuller  teaching, 
which  opens  out  the  manifold  bearings  of  that 
message  in  every  region  of  moral  and  religious 
thought.  I  do  not  plead  for  any  narrow  construc- 
tion of  the  words.  They  have  been  sorely  abused, 
by  being  made  the  battle-cry  for  bitter  bigotry  and 
a  hard  system  of  abstract  theology,  as  unlike  what 
Paul  means  by  "  Christ  "  as  any  cobwebs  of  Gnostic 
heresy  could  be.  Legitimate  outgrowths  of  the 
Christian  ministry  have  been  checked  in  their  name. 
They  have  been  used  as  a  cramping  iron,  as  a 
shibboleth,  as  a  stone  to  fling  at  honest  and  espe- 


136  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 

cially  at  young  preachers.  They  have  been  made  a 
pillow  for  laziness.  So  that  the  very  sound  of  the 
words  suggests  to  some  ears,  because  of  their  use  in 
some  mouths,  ignorant  narrowness. 

But  for  all  that,  they  are  a  standard  of  duty  for 
all  workers  for  God,  which  it  is  not  difficult  to 
apply,  if  the  will  to  do  so  be  present,  and  they  are 
a  touch-stone  to  try  the  spirits,  whether  they  be  of 
God.  A  ministry  of  which  the  Christ  who  lived  and 
died  for  us  is  manifestly  the  centre  to  which  all 
converges  and  from  which  all  is  viewed,  may  sweep 
a  wide  circumference,  and  include  many  themes. 
The  requirement  bars  out  no  province  of  thought 
or  experience,  nor  does  it  condemn  the  preacher  to 
a  parrot-like  repetition  of  elementary  truths,  or  a 
narrow  round  of  commonplace.  It  does  demand 
that  all  themes  shall  lead  up  to  Christ,  and  all 
teaching  point  to  Him  ;  that  He  shall  be  ever 
present  in  all  the  preacher's  words,  a  diffused 
even  when  not  a  directly  perceptible  presence  ;  and 
that  His  name,  like  some  deep  tone  on  an  organ, 
shall  be  heard  sounding  on  through  all  the  ripple 
and  change  of  the  higher  notes.  Preaching  Christ 
does  not  exclude  any  theme,  but  prescribes  the 
bearing  and  purpose  of  all  ;  and  the  widest  compass 
and  richest  variety  are  not  only  possible  but 
obligatory  for  him  who  would  in  any  worthy  sense 
take  this  for  the  motto  of  his  ministry,  "  I  deter- 
mined not  to  know  anything  among  you,  save  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified." 

But  these  words  give  us  not  only  the  theme  but 
something  of  the  manner  of  the  Apostle's  activity. 
'*  We  proclaim^  The  word  is  emphatic  in  its  form, 
meaning  to  tell  out^  and  representing  the  proclama- 


Col.  i.  28,  29.]      THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  137 

tion  as  full,  clear,  earnest.  "  We  are  no  muttering 
mystery-mongers.  From  full  lungs  and  in  a  voice 
to  make  people  hear,  we  shout  aloud  our  message. 
We  do  not  take  a  man  into  a  corner,  and  whisper 
secrets  into  his  ear ;  we  cry  in  the  streets,  and  our 
message  is  for  *  every  man.' " 

And  the  word  not  only  implies  the  plain,  loud 
earnestness  of  the  speaker,  but  also  that  what  he 
speaks  is  a  message^  that  he  is  not  a  speaker  of  his 
own  words  or  thoughts,  but  of  what  has  been  told 
him  to  tell.  His  gospel  is  a  good  message,  and  a 
messenger's  virtue  is  to  say  exactly  what  he  has 
been  told,  and  to  say  it  in  such  a  way  that  the 
people  to  whom  he  has  to  carry  it  cannot  but  hear 
and  understand  it. 

This  connection  of  the  Christian  minister's  office 
contrasts  on  the  one  hand  with  the  priestly  theory. 
Paul  had  known  in  Judaism  a  religion  of  which  the 
altar  was  the  centre,  and  the  official  function  of  the 
"  minister  "  was  to  sacrifice.  But  now  he  has  come 
to  see  that  "  the  one  sacrifice  for  sins  for  ever " 
leaves  no  room  for  a  sacrificing  priest  in  that  Church 
of  which  the  centre  is  the  Cross.  We  sorely  need 
that  lesson  to  be  drilled  into  the  minds  of  men  to- 
day, when  such  a  strange  resurrection  of  priestism 
has  taken  place,  and  good,  earnest  men,  whose 
devotion  cannot  be  questioned,  are  looking  on 
preaching  as  a  very  subordinate  part  of  their  work. 
For  three  centuries  there  has  not  been  so  much  need 
as  now  to  fight  against  the  notion  of  a  priesthood  in 
the  Church,  and  to  urge  this  as  the  true  definition  of 
the  minister's  office  :  **  we  preach,"  not  "  we  sacrifice," 
not  "  we  do  "  anything  ;  "  we  preach,"  not  "  we  work 
miracles  at  any  altar,  or  impart  grace  by  any  rites," 


138  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

but  by  manifestation  of  the  truth  discharge  our 
office  and  spread  the  blessings  of  Christ. 

This  conception  contrasts  on  the  other  hand, 
with  the  false  teachers'  style  of  speech,  which  finds 
its  parallel  in  much  modern  talk.  Their  business 
was  to  argue  and  refine  and  speculate,  to  spin 
inferences  and  cobwebby  conclusions.  They  sat  in 
a  lecturer's  chair ;  we  stand  in  a  preacher's  pulpit. 
The  Christian  minister  has  not  to  deal  in  such 
wares  ;  he  has  a  message  to  proclaim,  and  if  he 
allows  the  "philosopher"  in  him  to  overpower  the 
"  herald,"  and  substitutes  his  thoughts  about  the 
message,  or  his  arguments  in  favour  of  the  message, 
for  the  message  itself,  he  abdicates  his  highest 
office  and  neglects  his  most  important  function. 

We  hear  many  demands  to-day  for  a  "higher 
type  of  preaching,"  which  I  would  heartily  echo,  if 
only  it  be  preaching ;  that  is,  the  proclamation  in 
loud  and  plain  utterance  of  the  great  facts  of  Christ's 
work.  But  many  who  ask  for  this  really  want,  not 
preaching,  but  something  quite  different ;  and  many, 
as  I  think,  mistaken  Christian  teachers  are  trying 
to  play  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  age  by  turn- 
ing their  sermons  into  dissertations,  philosophical  or 
moral  or  aesthetic.  We  need  to  fall  back  on  this 
"  we  preach,"  and  to  urge  that  the  Christian  minister 
is  neither  priest  nor  lecturer,  but  a  herald,  whose 
business  is  to  tell  out  his  message,  and  to  take  good 
care  that  he  tells  it  faithfully.  If,  instead  of  bl^^wing 
his  trumpet  and  calling  aloud  his  commission,  he 
were  to  deliver  a  discourse  on  acoustics  and  the 
laws  of  the  vibration  of  sonorous  metal,  or  to  prove 
that  he  had  a  message,  and  to  dilate  on  its  evident 
truth   or   on   the   beauty   of   its   phrases,  he  would 


Col.  i.  28,  29.]      THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  139 

scarcely  be  doing  his  work.  No  more  is  the  Chris- 
tian minister,  unless  he  keeps  clear  before  himself  as 
the  guiding  star  of  his  work  this  conception  of  his 
theme  and  his  task —  Whom  we  preach — and  opposes 
that  to  the  demands  of  an  age,  one  half  of  which 
"  require  a  sign,"  and  would  again  degrade  him  into 
a  priest,  and  the  other  calls  for  "  wisdom,"  and  would 
turn  him  into  a  professor. 

II.  We  have  here  the  varying  methods  by  which 
this  one  great  end  is  pursued.  "  Admonishing  every 
man  and  teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom." 

There  are  then  two  main  methods — "  admonish- 
ing "  and  "  teaching."  The  former  means  "  admon- 
ishing with  blame,"  and  points,  as  many  commenta- 
tors remark,  to  that  side  of  the  Christian  ministry 
which  corresponds  to  repentance,  while  the  latter 
points  to  that  side  which  corresponds  to  faith.  In 
other  words,  the  former  rebukes  and  warns,  has  to 
do  with  conduct  and  the  moral  side  of  Christian 
truth  ;  the  latter  has  chiefly  to  do  with  doctrine, 
and  the  intellectual  side.  In  the  one  Christ  is 
proclaimed  as  the  pattern  of  conduct,  the  "  new 
commandment " ;  in  the  other,  as  the  creed  of 
creeds,  the  new  and  perfect  knowledge. 

The  preaching  of  Christ  then  is  to  be  unfolded 
into  all  "warning,"  or  admonishing.  The  teaching  of 
morality  and  the  admonishing  of  the  evil  and  the 
end  of  sin  are  essential  parts  of  preaching  Christ. 
We  claim  for  the  pulpit  the  right  and  the  duty  of 
applying  the  principles  and  pattern  of  Christ's  life 
to  all  human  conduct.  It  is  difficult  to  do,  and  is 
made  more  so  by  some  of  the  necessary  conditions 
of  our  modern  ministry,  for  the  pulpit  is  not  the 
place  for  details  ;  and  yet  moral  teaching  which  is 


140  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

confined  to  general  principles  is  woefully  like  repeat- 
ing platitudes  and  firing  blank  cartridges.  Every- 
body admits  the  general  principles,  and  thinks  they 
do  not  apply  to  his  specific  wrong  action  ;  and  if 
the  preacher  goes  beyond  these  toothless  generalities, 
he  is  met  with  the  cry  of  "  personalities."  If  a  man 
preaches  a  sermon  in  which  he  speaks  plainly  about 
tricks  of  trade  or  follies  of  fashion,  somebody  is 
sure  to  say,  going  down  the  chapel  steps,  "  Oh ! 
ministers  know  nothing  of  business,"  and  somebody 
else  to  add,  "  It  is  a  pity  he  was  so  personal,"  and 
the  chorus  is  completed  by  many  other  voices,  "  He 
should  preach  Christ,  and  leave  secular  things 
alone." 

Well !  whether  a  sermon  of  that  sort  be  preaching 
Christ  or  not  depends  on  the  way  in  which  it  is 
done.  But  sure  I  am  that  there  is  no  "  preaching 
Christ"  completely,  which  does  not  include  plain 
speaking  about  plain  duties.  Everything  that  a 
man  can  either  do  rightly  or  wrongly  belongs  to  the 
sphere  of  morals,  and  everything  within  the  sphere 
of  morals  belongs  to  Christianity  and  to  "  preaching 
Christ." 

Nor  is  such  preaching  complete  without  plain 
warning  of  the  end  of  sin,  as  death  here  and  here- 
after. This  is  difficult,  for  many  people  like  to  have 
the  smooth  side  of  truth  always  put  uppermost. 
But  the  gospel  has  a  rough  side,  and  is  by  no 
means  a  "  soothing  syrup  "  merely.  There  are  no 
rougher  words  about  what  wrongdoers  come  to  than 
some  of  Chi  ist's  words  ;  and  he  has  only  given  half 
his  Master's  message  who  hides  or  softens  down  the 
grim  saying,  "  The  wages  of  sin  is  death." 

But    all    this    moral    teaching    must    be    closely 


Col.  i.  28,  29.]      THE   CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY,  141 

connected  with  and  built  upon  Chrrst.  Christian 
morality  has  Jesus  for  its  perfect  exemplar,  His  love 
for  its  motive,  and  His  grace  for  its  power.  Nothing 
is  more  impotent  than  mere  moral  teaching.  What 
is  the  use  of  perpetually  saying  to  people,  Be  good, 
be  good  .-*  You  may  keep  on  at  that  for  ever,  and 
not  a  soul  will  listen,  any  more  than  the  crowds 
on  our  streets  are  drawn  to  church  by  the  bell's 
monotonous,  call.  But  if,  instead  of  a  cold  ideal  of 
duty,  as  beautiful  and  as  dead  as  a  marble  statue, 
we  preach  the  Son  of  man,  whose  life  is  our  law 
incarnate ;  and  instead  of  urging  to  purity  by 
motives  which  our  own  evil  makes  feeble,  we  re-echo 
His  heart-touching  appeal,  "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My 
commandments  ;  "  and  if,  instead  of  mocking  lame 
men  with  exhortations  to  walk,  we  point  those  who 
despairingly  cry,  "  Who  shall  deliver  us  from  the 
body  of  this  death  t  "  to  Him  who  breathes  His 
living  spirit  into  us  to  set  us  free  from  sin  and  death, 
then  our  preaching  of  morality  will  be  "  preaching 
the  gospel "  and  be  "  preaching  Christ." 

This  gospel  is  also  to  be  unfolded  into  "teach- 
ing." In  the  facts  of  Christ's  life  and  death,  as 
we  ponder  them  and  grow  up  to  understand  them, 
we  get  to  see  more  and  more  the  key  to  all  things. 
For  thought,  as  for  life.  He  is  the  alpha  and  omega, 
the  beginning  and  the  ending.  All  that  we  can  or 
need  know  about  God  or  man,  about  present  duty  or 
future  destiny,  about  life,  death,  and  the  beyond, — 
all  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  be  drawn  from  Him 
by  patient  thought  and  by  abiding  in  Him.  The 
Christian  minister's  business  is  to  be  ever  learning 
and  ever  teaching  more  and  more  of  the  "  manifold 
wisdom  "  of  God.     He  has  to  draw  for  himself  from 


142  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS, 

the  deep,  inexhaustible  fountains  ;  he  has  to  bear 
the  water,  which  must  be  fresh  drawn  to  be  pleasant 
or  refreshing,  to  thirsty  lips.  He  must  seek  to 
present  all  sides  of  the  truth,  teaching  all  wisdom, 
and  so  escaping  from  his  own  limited  mannerisms. 
How  many  ministers'  Bibles  are  all  dog-eared  and 
thumbed  at  certain  texts,  at  which  they  almost  open 
of  themselves,  and  are  as  clean  in  most  of  their 
pages  as  on  the  day  when  they  were  bought  !' 

The  Christian  ministry,  then,  in  the  Apostle  s  view, 
is  distinctly  educational  in  its  design.  Preachers 
and  hearers  equally  need  to  be  reminded  of  this. 
We  preachers  are  poor  scholars  ourselves,  and  in 
our  work  are  tempted,  like  other  people,  to  do  most 
frequently  what  we  can  do  with  least  trouble. 
Besides  which,  we  many  of  us  know,  and  all  suspect, 
that  our  congregations  prefer  to  hear  what  they  have 
heard  often  before,  and  what  gives  them  the  least 
trouble.  We  often  hear  the  cry  for  "  simple  preach- 
ing," by  which  one  school  intends  "  simple  instruction 
in  plain,  practical  matters,  avoiding  mere  dogma," 
and  another  intends  "  the  simple  gospel,"  by  which 
is  meant  the  repetition  over  and  over  again  ofithe 
great  truth,  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  God  forbid  that  I 
should  say  a  word  which  might  even  seem  to  under- 
estimate the  need  for  that  proclamation  being  made 
in  its  simple  form,  as  the  staple  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  to  all  who  have  not  welcomed  it  into  their 
hearts,  or  to  forget  that,  however  dimly  understood, 
it  will  bring  light  and  hope  and  new  loves  and 
strengths  into  a  soul  !  But  the  New  Testament  draws 
a  distinction  between  evangelists  and  teachers,  and 
common    sense   insists   that   Christian  people  need 


Col.  i.  28,  29-]      THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY.  143 

mors  than  the  reiteration  of  that  message  from  him 
whom  they  call  their  "  teacher."  If  he  is  a  teacher, 
he  should  teach  ;  and  he  cannot  do  that,  if  the 
people  who  listen  to  him  suspect  everything  that 
they  do  not  know  already,  and  are  impatient  of 
anything  that  gives  them  the  trouble  of  attending 
and  thinking  in  order  to  learn.  I  fear  there  is 
much  unreality  in  the  name,  and  that  nothing  would 
be  more  distasteful  to  many  of  our  congregations 
than  the  preacher's  attempt  to  make  it  truly 
descriptive  of  his  work.  Sermons  should  not  be 
"  quiet  resting  places."  Nor  is  it  quite  the  ideal  of 
Christian  teaching  that  busy  men  should  come  to 
church  or  chapel  on  a  Sunday,  and  not  be  fatigued 
by  being  made  to  think,  but  perhaps  to  be  able  to 
sleep  for  a  minute  or  two  and  pick  up  the  thread 
when  they  wake,  quite  sure  that  they  have  missed 
nothing  of  any  consequence.  We  are  meant  to  be 
teachers,  as  well  as  evangelists,  though  we  fulfil  the 
function  so  poorly ;  but  our  hearers  often  make  that 
task  more  difficult  by  ill-concealed  impatience  with 
sermons  which  try  to  discharge  it. 

Observe  too  the  emphatic  repetition  of  "every 
man  "  both  in  these  two  clauses  and  in  the  following. 
It  is  Paul's  protest  against  the  exclusiveness  of  the 
heretics,  who  shut  out  the  mob  from  their  mysteries. 
An  intellectual  aristocracy  is  the  proudest  and  most 
exclusive  of  all.  A  Church  built  upon  intellectual 
qualifications  would  be  as  hard  and  cruel  a  coterie 
as  could  be  imagined.  So  there  is  almost  vehemence 
and  scorn  in  the  persistent  repetition  in  each  clause 
of  the  obnoxious  word,  as  if  he  would  thrust  down 
his  antagonists'  throats  the  truth  that  his  gospel  has 
nothing  to  do  with  cliques  and  sections,  but  belongs 


144  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS, 

to  the  world.  To  it  philosopher  and  fool  are 
equally  welcome.  Its  message  is  to  all.  Brushing 
aside  surface  diversities,  it  goes  straight  to  deep- 
lying  wants,  which  are  the  same  in  all  men.  Below 
king's  robe  and  professor's  gown,  and  workman's 
jacket  and  prodigal's  rags,  beats  the  same  heart  with 
the  same  wants,  wild  longings,  and  weariness. 
Christianity  knows  no  hopeless  classes.  But  its 
highest  wisdom  can  be  spoken  to  the  little  child  and 
the  barbarian,  and  it  is  ready  to  deal  with  the  most 
forlorn  and  foolish,  knowing  its  own  power  to  "  warn 
every  man  and  to  teach  every  man  in  all  wisdom." 

III.  We  have  here  the  ultimate  aim  of  these 
diverse  methods.  "  That  we  may  present  every  man 
perfect  in  Christ  Jesus." 

We  found  this  same  word  "  present"  in  verse  22. 
The  remarks  made  there  will  apply  here.  There 
the  Divine  purpose  of  Christ's  great  work,  and  here 
Paul's  purpose  in  his,  are  expressed  alike.  God's 
aim  is  Paul's  aim  too.  The  Apostle's  thoughts 
travel  on  to  the  great  coming  day,  when  we  shall  all 
be  manifested  at  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  and 
preacher  and  hearer.  Apostle  and  convert,  shall  be 
gathered  there.  That  solemn  period  will  test  the 
teacher's  work,  and  should  ever  be  in  his  view  as  he 
works.  There  is  a  real  and  indissoluble  connection 
between  the  teacher  and  his  hearers,  so  that  in  some 
sense  he  is  to  blame  if  they  do  not  stand  perfect 
then,  and  he  in  some  sense  has  to  present  them 
as  in  his  work — the  gold,  silver,  and  precious 
stones  which  he  has  built  on  the  foundation.  So 
each  preacher  should  work  with  that  end  clear 
in  view,  as  Paul  did.  He  is  always  toiling  in  the 
light  of  that  great  vision.     One  sees  him,  in  all  his 


Col.  i.  28,  29]      THE  CHRISriAN  MINISTRY.  145 

letters,  looking  away  yonder  to  the  horizon,  where 
he  expects  the  breaking  of  its  nnorning  low  down  in 
the  eastern  sky.  Ah  !  how  manyjjformal  pulpit  and 
how  many  a  languid  pew  would  be  galvanised  into 
intense  action  if  only  their  occupants  once  saw 
burning  in  on  them,  in  their  decorous  deadness,  the 
light  of  that  great  white  throne  !  How  differently 
we  should  preach  if  we  always  felt  "the  terror  ot 
the  Lord,"  and  under  its  solemn  influence  sought  to 
"  persuade  men  !  "  How  differently  we  should  hear 
if  we  felt  we  must  appear  before  the  Judge,  and 
give  account  to  Him  of  our  profitings  by  His  word  ! 
And  the  purpose  which  the  true  minister  of  Christ 
has  in  view  is  to  "present  every  man  perfect  in 
Christ  Jesusr  "  Perfect "  may  be  used  here  with 
the  technical  signification  of  "initiated,"  but  it  means 
absolute  moral  completeness.  Negatively,  it  implies 
the  entire  removal  of  all  defects ;  positively,  the 
complete  possession  of  all  that  belongs  to  human 
nature  as  God  meant  it  to  be.  The  Christian  aim, 
for  which  the  preaching  of  Christ  supplies  ample 
power,  is  to  make  the  whole  race  possess,  in  fullest 
development,  the  whole  circle  of  possible  human 
excellences.  There  is  to  be  no  one-sided  growth 
but  men  are  to  grow  like  a  tree  in  the  open,  which 
has  no  barrier  to  hinder  its  symmetry,  but  rises  and 
spreads  equally  on  all  sides,  with  no  branch  broken 
or  twisted,  no  leaf  worm-eaten  or  wind-torn,  no  fruit 
blighted  or  fallen,  no  gap  in  the  clouds  of  foliage, 
no  bend  in  the  straight  stem,— a  green  and  growing 
completeness.  This  absolute  completeness  is  attain- 
able "in  Christ,"  by  union  with  Him  of  that  vital 
sort  brought  about  by  faith,  which  will  pour  His 
Spirit  into  our  spirits.     The  preaching  of  Christ  is 

10 


146  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 


therefore  plainly  the  direct  way  to  bring  about  this 
perfecting.  That  is  the  Christian  theory  of  the  way 
to  make  perfect  men. 

And  this  absolute  perfection  of  character  is,  in 
Paul's  belief,  possible  for  every  man,  no  matter  what 
his  training  or  natural  disposition  may  have  been. 
The  gospel  is  confident  that  it  can  change  the 
Ethiopian's  skin,  because  it  can  change  his  heart, 
and  the  leopard's  spots  will  be  altered  when  it  "  eats 
straw  like  the  ox."  There  are  no  hopeless  classes, 
in  the  glad,  confident  view  of  the  man  who  has 
learned  Christ's  power. 

What  a  vision  of  the  future  to  animate  work ! 
What  an  aim !  What  dignity,  what  consecration, 
what  enthusiasm  it  would  give,  making  the  trivial 
great  and  the  monotonous  interesting,  stirring  up 
those  who  share  it  to  intense  effort,  overcoming  low 
temptations,  and  giving  precision  to  the  selection  of 
means  and  use  of  instruments !  The  pressure  of  a 
great,  steady  purpose  consolidates  and  strengthens 
powers,  which,  without  it,  become  flaccid  and  feeble. 
We  can  make  a  piece  of  calico  as  stiff  as  a  board  by 
putting  it  under  an  hydraulic  press.  Men  with  a 
fixed  purpose  are  terrible  men.  They  crash  through 
ccnventionalities  like  a  cannon  ball.  They,  and  they 
only,  can  persuade  and  arouse  and  impress  their  own 
enthusiasm  on  the  inert  mass.  "Behold,  how  great 
a  matter  a  little  fire  kindleth  ! "  No  Christian  min- 
ister will  work  up  to  the  limits  of  his  power,  nor  do 
much  for  Christ  or  man,  unless  his  whole  soul  is 
mastered  by  this  high  conception  of  the  possibilities 
of  his  office,  and  unless  he  is  possessed  with  the 
ambition  to  present  every  man  "perfect  in  Christ 


Col.  i.  28,  29.]      THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY,  147 

IV.  Note  the  struggle  and  the  strength  with 
which  the  Apostle  reaches  toward  this  aim.  " Where- 
unto  I  labour  also,  striving  according  to  His  working, 
which  worketii  in  me  mightily." 

As  to  the  object,  theme,  and  method  of  the 
Christian  ministry,  Paul  can  speak,  as  he  does  in  the 
previous  verses,  in  the  name  of  all  his  fellow 
workers  :  "  We  preach,  admonishing  and  teaching, 
that  we  may  present"  There  was  substantial  unity 
among  them.  But  he  adds  a  sentence  about  his 
own  toil  and  conflict  in  doing  his  work.  He  will 
only  speak  for  himself  now.  The  others  may  say 
what  their  experience  has  been.  He  has  found  that 
he  cannot  do  his  work  easily.  Some  people  may  be 
able  to  get  through  it  with  little  toil  of  body  or 
agony  of  mind,  but  for  himself  it  has  been  laborious 
work.  He  has  not  learned  to  "  take  it  easy."  That 
great  purpose  has  been  ever  before  him,  and  made 
a  slave  of  him.  "  I  labour  also " ;  I  do  not  only 
preach,  but  I  toil — as  the  word  literally  implies — 
like  a  man  tugging  at  an  oar,  and  putting  all  his 
weight  into  each  stroke.  No  great  work  for  God 
will  be  done  without  physical  and  mental  strain  and 
effort.  Perhaps  there  were  people  in  Colossae  who 
thought  that  a  man  who  had  nothing  to  do  but  to 
preach  had  a  very  easy  life,  and  so  the  Apostle  had 
to  insist  that  most  exhausting  work  is  brain  work 
and  heart  work.  Perhaps  there  were  preachers  and 
teachers  there  who  worked  in  a  leisurely,  dignified 
fashion,  and  took  great  care  always  to  stop  a  long 
way  on  the  safe  side  of  weariness  ;  and  so  he  had 
to  insist  that  God's  work  cannot  be  done  at  all  in 
that  fashion,  but  has  to  be  done  "with  both  hands, 
earnestly."     The  "immortal  gajland"  is  to  be  run  for, 


148  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 

"  not  without  dust  and  heat."  The  racer  who  takes 
care  to  slack  his  speed  whenever  he  is  in  danger  of 
breaking  into  a  perspiration  will  not  win  the  prize. 
The  Christian  minister  who  is  afraid  of  putting  all 
his  strength  into  his  work,  up  to  the  point  of  weari- 
ness, will  never  do  much  good. 

There  must  be  not  only  toil,  but  conflict.  He 
labours,  "  striving " — that  is  to  say,  contending — 
with  hindrances,  both  without  and  within,  which 
sought  to  mar  his  work.  There  is  the  struggle  with 
one's  self,  with  the  temptations  to  do  high  work 
from  low  motives,  or  to  neglect  it,  and  to  substitute 
routine  for  inspiration  and  mechanism  for  fervour. 
One's  own  evil,  one's  weaknesses  and  fears  and 
falsities,  and  laziness  and  torpor  and  faithlessness, 
have  all  to  be  fought,  besides  the  difficulties  and 
enemies  without.  In  short,  all  good  work  is  a 
battle. 

The  hard  strain  and  stress  of  this  life  of  effort  and 
conflict  made  this  man  "  Paul  the  aged "  while  he 
was  not  old  in  years.  Such  soul's  agony  and  travail 
is  indispensable  for  all  high  service  of  Christ.  How 
can  any  true,  noble  Christian  life  be  lived  without 
continuous  effort  and  continual  strife  ?  Up  to  the 
last  particle  of  our  power,  it  is  our  duty  to  work. 
As  for  the  sleepy,  languid,  self-indulgent  service  of 
modern  Christians,  who  seem  to  be  chiefly  anxious 
not  to  overstrain  themselves,  and  to  manage  to  win 
the  race  set  before  them  without  turning  a  hair,  I 
am  afraid  that  a  large  deduction  will  have  to  be 
made  from  it  in  the  day  that  shall  "  try  every  man's 
work,  of  what  sort  it  is." 

So  much  for  the  struggle  ;  now  for  the  strength. 
The  toil  and  the  conflict  are  to  be  carried  on  "  accord- 


Col.  i.  28,  29-]      THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY,  149 

ing  to  His  working,  which  worketh  in  me  mightily." 
/  The  measure  of  our  power  then  is  Christ's  power 
in  us.  He  whose  presence  makes  the  struggle 
necessary,  by  His  presence  strengthens  us  for  it. 
He  will  dwell  in  us  and  work  in  us,  and  even  our 
weakness  will  be  lifted  into  joyful  strength  by  Him. 
We  shall  be  mighty  because  that  mighty  Worker 
is  in  our  spirits.  We  have  not  only  His  presence 
beside  us  as  an  ally,  but  His  grace  within  us.  We 
may  not  only  have  the  vision  of  our  Captain 
standing  at  our  side  as  we  front  the  foe — an  unseen 
presence  to  them,  but  inspiration  and  victory  to  us 
— but  we  may  have  the  consciousness  of  His  power 
welling  up  in  our  spirits  and  flowing,  as  immortal 
strength,  into  our  arms.  It  is  much  to  know  that 
Christ  fights  for  us ;  it  is  more  to  know  that  He 
fights  in  us. 

Let  us  take  courage  then  for  all  work  and  con- 
flict ;  and  remember  that  if  we  have  not  "  striven 
according  to  the  power" — that  is,  if  we  have  not 
utilised  all  our  Christ-given  strength  in  His  service 
— we  have  not  striven  enough.  There  may  be  a 
double  defect  in  us.  We  may  not  have  taken  all 
the  power  that  he  Has  given,  and  we  may  not  have 
used  all  the  power  that  we  have  taken.  Alas,  for  us  ! 
we  have  to  confess  both  faults.  How  weak  we  have 
been  when  Omnipotence  waited  to  give  Itself  to  us! 
How  little  we  have  made  our  own  of  the  grace  that 
flows  so  abundantly  past  us,  catching  such  a  small  part 
of  the  broad  river  in  our  hands,  and  spilling  so 
much  even  of  that  before  it  reached  our  lips  !  And 
how  little  of  the  power  given,  whether  natural  or 
spiritual,  we  have  used  for  our  Lord  !  How  many 
weapons  have  hung  rusty  and  unused  in  the  fight ! 


ISO  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSfANS. 

He  has  sowed  much  in  our  hearts,  and  reaped  little. 
Like  some  unkindly  soils,  we  have  "drunk  in  the 
'rain  which  cometh  oft  upon  it,"  and  have  "  not 
brought  forth  herbs  fit  for  Him  by  whom  it  is 
dressed/'  Talents  hid,  the  Master's  goods  squan- 
dered, power  allowed  to  run  to  waste,  languid  service 
and  half-hearted  conflict,  we  have  all  to  acknow- 
ledge. Let  us  go  to  Him  and  confess  that,  "  we  have 
most  unthankful  been,"  and  are  unprofitable  servants 
indeed,  coming  far  short  of  duty.  Let  us  yield  our 
spirits  to  His  influence,  that  He  may  work  in  us 
that  which  is  pleasing  in  His  sight,  and  may  encircle 
us  with  ever-growing  completeness  of  beauty  and 
strength,  until  He  "  present  us  faultless  before  the 
presence  of  His  glory  with  exceeding  joy,*' 


X. 

yAUrS  STRIVING  FOR   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

**  For  1  would  have  you  know  hff  w  greatly  I  strive  for  you,  and  for 
them  at  Laodicea,  and  for  as  many  as  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the 
flesh ;  that  their  hearts  may  be  comforted,  they  being  knit  together  in 
love,  and  into  all  riches  of  the  full  assurance  of  understanding,  that 
they  may  know  the  mystery  of  God,  even  Christ,  in  Whom  are  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  hidden." — CoL.  ii.  I-3  (Rev.  Ver.). 

WE  have  seen  that  the  closing  portion  of  the 
previous  chapter  is  almost  exclusively  per- 
sonal. In  this  context  the  same  strain  is  continued, 
and  two  things  are  dwelt  on  :  the  Apostle's  agony 
of  anxiety  for  the  Colossian  Church,  and  the  joy 
with  which,  from  his  prison,  he  travelled  in  spirit 
across  mountain  and  sea,  and  saw  them  In  their  quiet 
valley,  cleaving  to  the  Lord.  The  former  of  these 
feelings  is  expressed  in  the  words  now  before  us  ; 
the  latter,  in  the  following  verses. 

All  this  long  outpouring  of  self-revelation  is  so 
natural  and  characteristic  of  Paul  that  we  need 
scarcely  look  for  any  purpose  in  it,  and  yet  we  may 
note  with  what  consummate  art  he  thereby  pre- 
pares the  way  for  the  warnings  which  follow.  The 
unveiling  of  his  own  throbbing  heart  was  sure  to 
work  on  the  affections  of  his  readers  and  to  incline 
them  to  listen.  His  profound  emotion  in  thinking 
of  the  preclousness  of  his  message  would  help  to 
make   them  feel  how  much  was   at  stake,  and  his 


152  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

unfaltering  faith  would  give  firmness  to  their  less 
tenacious  grasp  of  the  truth  which,  as  they  saw, 
he  gripped  with  such  force.  Many  truths  may  be 
taught  coolly,  and  some  must  be.  But  in  religious 
matters,  arguments  wrought  in  frost  are  powerless, 
and  earnestness  approaching  to  passion  is  the  all- 
conquering  force.  A  teacher  who  is  afraid  to  show 
his  feelings,  or  who  has  no  feelings  to  show,  will 
never  gather  many  disciples. 

So  this  revelation  of  the  Apostle's  heart  is  relevant 
to  the  great  purposes  of  the  whole  letter — the 
warning  against  error,  and  the  exhortation  to  sted- 
fastness.  In  the  verses  which  we  are  now  consider- 
ing, we  have  the  conflict  which  Paul  was  waging 
set  forth  in  three  aspects  :  first,  in  itself ;  second,  in 
regard  to  the  persons  for  whom  it  was  waged  ;  and, 
finally  and  principally,  in  regard  to  the  object  or 
purpose  in  view  therein.  The  first  and  second  of 
these  points  may  be  dealt  with  briefly.  The  third 
will  require  further  consideration. 

I.  There  is  first  the  conflict,  which  he  earnestly 
desired  that  the  Colossian  Christians  might  know  to 
be  "  great.'*  The  word  rendered  in  the  Authorised 
Version  "  conflict,"  belongs  to  the  same  root  as  that 
which  occurs  in  the  last  verse  of  the  previous  chapter, 
and  is  there  rendered  "  striving."  The  Revised 
Version  rightly  indicates  this  connection  by  its 
translation,  but  fails  to  give  the  construction  as 
accurately  as  the  older  translation  does.  "  What 
great  strife  I  have  "  would  be  nearer  the  Greek,  and 
more  forcible  than  the  somewhat  feeble  "  how 
greatly  I  strive,"  which  the  Revisers  have  adopted. 
The  conflict  referred  to  is,  of  course,  that  of  the 
arena,  as  so  often  in  Paul's  writings. 


Col.  ii.  1-3.]  PAUnS  STRIVING.  153 

But  how  could  he,  in  Rome,  wage  conflict  on 
behalf  of  the  Church  at  Colossae  ?  No  external 
conflict  can  be  meant.  He  could  strike  no  blows 
on  their  behalf.  What  he  could  do  in  that  way,  he 
did,  and  he  was  now  taking  part  in  their  battle  by 
this  letter.  If  he  could  not  fight  by  their  side,  he 
could  send  them  ammunition,  as  he  does  in  this 
great  Epistle,  which  was,  no  doubt,  to  the  eager 
combatants  for  the  truth  at  Colossae,  what  it  has 
been  ever  since,  a  magazine  and  arsenal  in  all 
their  warfare.  But  the  real  struggle  was  in  his  own 
heart.  It  meant  anxiety,  sympathy,  an  agony  of 
solicitude,  a  passion  of  intercession.  What  he  says 
of  Epaphras  in  this  very  Epistle  was  true  of  himself. 
He  was  "  always  striving  in  prayer  for  them."  And 
by  these  wrestlings  of  spirit  he  took  his  place  among 
the  combatants,  though  they  were  far  away,  and 
though  in  outward  seeming,  his  life  was  untouched 
by  any  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  which 
hemmed  them  in.  In  that  lonely  prison-cell,  remote 
from  their  conflict,  and  with  burdens  enough  of  his 
own  to  carry,  with  his  life  in  peril,  his  heart  yet 
turned  to  them  and,  like  some  soldier  left  behind  to 
guard  the  base  while  his  comrades  had  gone  forward 
to  the  fight,  his  ears  listened  for  the  sound  of  battle, 
and  his  thoughts  were  in  the  field.  His  prison  cell 
was  like  the  focus  of  some  reverberating  gallery 
in  which  every  whisper  spoken  all  round  the  circum- 
ference was  heard,  and  the  heart  that  was  held 
captive  there  was  set  vibrating  in  all  its  chords  by 
evecy  sound  from  any  of  the  Churches. 

Let  us  learn  the  lesson,  that,  for  all  Christian 
people,  sympathy  in  the  battle  for  God,  which  is  being 
waged  all  over  the  world,  is   plain  duty.     For  all 


JS4  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

Christian  teachers  of  every  sort,  an  eager  sympathy 
in  the  difficulties  and  struggles  of  those  whom  they 
would  try  to  teach  is  indispensable.  We  can  never 
deal  wisely  with  any  mind  until  we  have  entered  into 
its  peculiarities.  We  can  never  help  a  soul  fighting 
with  errors  and  questionings  until  we  have  ourselves 
felt  the  pinch  of  the  problems,  and  have  shown  that 
soul  that  we  know  what  it  is  to  grope  and  stumble. 
No  man  is  ever  able  to  lift  a  burden  from  another's 
shoulders  except  on  condition  of  bearing  the  burden 
himself.  If  I  stretch  out  my  hand  to  some  poor 
brother  struggling  in  "  the  miry  clay,"  he  will  not 
grasp  it,  and  my  well-meant  efforts  will  be  vain, 
unless  he  can  see  that  I  too  have  felt  with  him  the 
horror  of  great  darkness,  and  desire  him  to  share 
with  me  the  benedictions  of  the  light. 

Wheresoever  our  prison  or  our  workshop  may  be, 
howsoever  Providence  or  circumstances — which  is  but 
a  heathenish  word  for  the  same  thing — may  separate 
us  from  active  participation  in  any  battle  for  God, 
we  are  bound  to  take  an  eager  share  in  it  by  sym- 
pathy, by  interest,  by  such  help  as  we  can  render, 
and  by  that  intercession  which  may  sway  the  fortunes 
of  the  field,  though  the  uplifted  hands  grasp  no 
weapons,  and  the  spot  where  we  pray  be  far  from 
the  fight.  It  is  not  only  the  men  who  bear  the 
brunt  of  the  battle  in  the  high  places  of  the  field 
who  are  the  combatants.  In  many  a  quiet  home, 
where  their  wives  and  mothers  sit,  with  wistful  faces 
waiting  for  the  news  from  the  front,  are  an  agony  of 
anxiety,  and  as  true  a  share  in  the  struggle  as  amidst 
the  battery  smoke  and  the  gleaming  bayonets.  It 
was  a  law  in  Israel,  "  As  his  part  is  that  goeth  down 
to  the  battle,  so  shall  his  part  be  that  abideth  by  the 


Col.  ii.  1-3-]  PALVS  STRIVING.  155 

stuff.  They  shall  part  alike."  They  were  alike  in 
recompense,  because  they  were  rightly  regarded  as 
alike  in  service.  So  all  Christians  who  have  in  heart 
and  sympathy  taken  part  in  the  great  battle  shall  be 
counted  as  combatants  and  crowned  as  victors,  though 
they  themselves  have  struck  no  blows.  "  He  that 
receiveth  a  prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet  shall 
receive  a  prophet's  reward." 

II.  We  notice  the  persons  for  whom  this  conflict 
was  endured.  They  are  the  Christians  of  Colossae, 
and  their  neighbours  of  Laodicea,  and  "  as  many 
as  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the  flesh."  It  may  be 
a  question  whether  the  Colossians  and  Laodiceans 
belong  to  those  who  have  not  seen  his  face  in  the 
flesh,  but  the  most  natural  view  of  the  words  is  that 
the  last  clause  "  introduces  the  whole  class  to  which 
the  persons  previously  enumerated  belong,"  ^  and 
this  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  the  silence  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  as  to  any  visit  of  Paul's  to  these 
Churches,  and  by  the  language  of  the  Epistle  itself, 
which,  in  several  places,  refers  to  his  knowledge  of 
the  Colossian  Church  as  derived  from  hearing  of 
them,  and  never  alludes  to  personal  intercourse. 
That  being  so,  one  can  understand  that  its  members 
might  easily  think  that  he  cared  less  for  them  than 
he  did  for  the  more  fortunate  communities  which  he 
had  himself  planted  or  watered,  and  might  have  sus- 
pected that  the  difficulties  of  the  Church  at  Ephesus, 
for  instance,  lay  nearer  his  heart  than  theirs  in  their 
remote  upland  valley.  No  doubt,  too,  their  feelings 
to  hini  were  less  warm  than  to  Epaphras  and  to 
other  teachers  whom  they  had  heard.  They  had 
never  felt  the  magnetism  of  his  personal  presence, 

*  Bishop  Lightfoot,  in  loc. 


156  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

and  were  at  a  disadvantage  in  their  struggle  with 
the  errois  which  were  beginning  to  lift  their  snaky- 
heads  among  them,  from  not  having  had  the  inspira- 
tion and  direction  of  his  teaching. 

It  is  beautiful  to  see  how,  here,  Paul  lays  hold 
of  that  very  fact  which  seemed  to  put  some  film  of 
separation  between  them,  in  order  to  make  it  the 
foundation  of  his  especial  keenness  of  interest  in 
them.  Precisely  because  he  had  never  looked  them 
in  the  eyes,  they  had  a  warmer  place  in  his  heart, 
and  his  solicitude  for  them  was  more  tender.  He 
was  not  so  enslaved  by  sense  that  his  love  could 
not  travel  beyond  the  limits  of  his  eyesight.  He 
was  the  more  anxious  about  them  because  they  had 
not  the  recollections  of  his  teaching  and  of  his 
presence  to  fall  back  upon. 

HI.  But  the  most  important  part  of  this  section 
is  the  Apostle's  statement  of  the  great  subject  of  his 
solicitude,  that  which  he  anxiously  longed  that  the 
Colossians  might  attain.  It  is  a  prophecy,  as  well 
as  a  desire.  It  is  a  statement  of  the  deepest  purpose 
of  his  letter  to  them,  and  being  so,  it  is  likewise  a 
statement  of  the  Divine  desire  concerning  each  of  us, 
and  of  the  Divine  design  of  the  gospel.  Here  is  set 
forth  what  God  would  have  all  Christians  to  be,  and, 
in  Jesus  Christ,  has  given  them  ample  means  of 
being. 

(i)  The  first  element  in  the  Apostle's  desire  for 
them  is  "  that  their  hearts  may  be  comforted."  Of 
course  the  Biblical  use  of  the  word  "  heart "  is  much 
wider  than  the  modern  popular  use  of  it.  We  mean 
by  it,  when  we  use  it  in  ordinary  talk,  the  hypo- 
thet/cal  seat  of  the  emotions,  and  chiefly,  the  organ 
and  throne  of  love ;  but   Scripture   means   by   the 


Col.  ii.  1-3-]  PAULS  STRIVING,  157 

word,  the  whole  inward  personality,  including  thought 
and  will  as  well  as  emotion.  So  we  read  of  the 
"  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart,"  and  the  whole 
inward  nature  is  called  "the  hidden  man  of  the 
heart." 

And  what  does  he  desire  for  this  inward  man  ? 
That  it  may  be  "  comforted."  That  word  again  has 
a  wider  signification  in  Biblical,  than  in  nineteenth 
century  English.  It  is  much  more  than  consolation 
in  trouble.  The  cloud  that  hung  over  the  Colossian 
Church  was  not  about  to  break  in  sorrows  which 
they  would  need  consolation  to  bear,  but  in  doctrinal 
and  practical  errors  which  they  would  need  strength 
to  resist.  They  were  called  to  fight  rather  than  to 
endure,  and  what  they  needed  most  was  courageous 
confidence.  So  Paul  desires  for  them  that  their 
hearts  should  be  encouraged  or  strengthened,  that 
they  might  not  quail  before  the  enemy,  but  go  into 
the  fight  with  buoyancy,  and  be  of  good  cheer. 

Is  there  any  greater  blessing  in  v'\e.^  both  of  the 
conflict  which  Christianity  has  to  wage  to-day,  and 
of  the  difficulties  and  warfare  of  our  own  lives,  than 
that  brave  spirit,  which  plunges  into  the  struggle 
with  the  serene  assurance  that  victory  sits  on  our 
helms  and  waits  upon  our  swords,  and  knows  that 
anything  is  possible  rather  than  defeat  ?  That  is  the 
condition  of  overcoming — even  our  faith.  "  The  sad 
heart  tires  in  a  mile,"  but  the  strong  hopeful  heart 
carries  in  its  very  strength  the  prophecy  of  triumph. 

Such  a  disposition  is  not  altogether  a  matter  of 
temperament,  but  may  be  cultivated,  and  though  it 
may  come  easier  to  some  of  us  than  to  others,  it 
certainly  ought  to  belong  to  all  who  have  God  to 
trust  to,  and  believe  that  the  gospel  is  His  truth. 


158  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

They  may  well  be  strong  who  have  Divine  power 
ready  to  flood  their  hearts,  who  know  that  everything 
works  for  their  good,  who  can  see,  above  the  whirl 
of  time  and  change,  one  strong  loving  Hand  which 
moves  the  wheels.  What  have  we  to  do  with  fear 
for  ourselves,  or  wherefore  should  our  "hearts  tremble 
for  the  ark  of  God,"  seeing  that  One  fights  by  our 
sides  who  will  teach  our  hands  to  war  and  cover  our 
heads  in  the  day  of  battle  ?  "  Be  of  good  courage, 
and  He  shall  strengthen  thine  heart." 

(2)  The  way  to  secure  such  joyous  confidence  and 
strength  is  taught  us  here,  for  we  have  next,  Union 
in  love,  as  part  of  the  means  for  obtaining  it — 
"  They  being  knit  together  in  love."  The  persons, 
not  the  hearts,  are  to  be  thus  united.  Love  is  the 
true  bond  which  unites  men — the  bond  of  perfect- 
ness,  as  it  is  elsewhere  called.  That  unity  in  love 
would,  of  course,  add  to  the  strength  of  each.  The 
old  fable  teaches  us  that  little  fagots  bound  together 
are  strong,  and  the  tighter  the  rope  is  pulled,  the 
stronger  they  are.  A  solitary  heart  is  timid  and 
weak,  but  many  weaknesses  brought  together  make 
a  strength,  as  slimly  built  houses  in  a  row  hold  each 
other  up,  or  dying  embers  raked  closer  burst  into 
flame.  Loose  grains  of  sand  are  light  and  moved 
by  a  breath  ;  compacted  they  are  rock  against  which 
the  Atlantic  beats  in  vain.  So,  a  Church,  of  which 
the  members  are  bound  together  by  that  love  which 
is  the  only  real  bond  of  Church  life,  presents  a  front 
to  threatening  evils  through  which  they  cannot  break. 
A  real  moral  defence  against  even  intellectual  error 
will  be  found  in  such  a  close  compaction  in  mutual 
Christian  love.  A  community  so  interlocked  \\i\\ 
throw  off  many  evils,  as  a  Roman  legion  with  linked 


Col.  ii.  1-3.]  PAUnS  STRIVING.  159 

shields  roofed  itself  over  against  missiles  from  the 
wall  of  a  besieged  city,  or  the  imbricated  scales  on 
a  fish  keep  it  dry  in  the  heart  of  the  sea. 

But  we  must  go  deeper  than  this  in  interpreting 
these  words.  The  love  which  is  to  knit  Christian 
men  together  is  not  merely  love  to  one  another,  but 
is  common  love  to  Jesus  Christ.  Such  common  love 
to  Him  is  the  true  bond  of  union,  and  the  true 
strengthener  of  men's  hearts. 

(3)  This  compaction  in  love  will  lead  to  a  wealth 
of  certitude  in  the  possession  of  the  truth. 

Paul  is  so  eagerly  desirous  for  the  Colossians' 
union  in  love  to  each  other  and  all  to  God,  because 
He  knows  that  such  union  will  materially  contribute 
to  their  assured  and  joyful  possession  of  the  truth. 
It  tends,  he  thinks,  unto  "  all  riches  of  the  full 
assurance  of  understanding,"  by  which  he  means 
the  wealth  which  consists  in  the  entire,  unwaver- 
ing certitude  which  takes  possession  of  the  under- 
standing, the  confidence  that  it  has  the  truth  and 
the  life  in  Jesus  Christ.  Such  a  joyful  stedfastness 
of  conviction  that  I  have  grasped  the  truth  is  opposed 
to  hesitating  half  belief.  It  is  attainable,  as  this 
context  shows,  by  paths  of  moral  discipline,  and 
amongst  them,  by  seeking  to  realize  our  unity  with 
our  brethren,  and  not  proudly  rejecting  the  "com- 
mon faith  "  because  it  is  common.  Possessing  that 
assurance,  we  shall  be  rich  and  heart-whole.  Walk- 
ing amid  certainties  we  shall  walk  in  paths  of  peace, 
and  re-echo  the  triumphant  assurance  of  the  Apostle, 
to  whom  love  had  given  the  key  of  knowledge  : — 
"  we  know  that  we  are  of  God,  and  we  know  that 
the  Son  of  God  is  come,  and  hath  given  us  an  under- 
standing, that  we  may  know  Him  that  is  true/' 


l6o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

In  all  times  of  religious  unsettlement,  when  an 
active  propaganda  of  denial  is  going  on,  Christian 
men  are  tempted  to  lower  their  own  tone,  and  to 
say,  "  It  is  so,"  with  somewhat  less  of  certainty 
because  so  many  are  saying,  "  It  is  not  so."  Littk 
Rhoda  needs  some  courage  to  affirm  constantly  that 
"  it  was  even  so,"  when  apostles  and  her  masters 
keep  assuring  her  that  she  has  only  seen  a  vision. 
In  this  day,  many  professing  Christians  falter  in  the 
clear  assured  profession  of  their  faith,  and  it  does 
not  need  a  keen  ear  to  catch  an  undertone  of  doubt 
making  their  voices  tremulous.  Some  even  are  so 
afraid  of  being  thought  "  narrow,"  that  they  seek 
for  the  reputation  of  liberality  by  talking  as  if  there 
were  a  film  of  doubt  over  even  the  truths  which 
used  to  be  "most  surely  believed."  Much  of  the 
so-called  faith  of  this  day  is  all  honeycombed  with 
secret  misgivings,  which  have  in  many  instances  no 
other  intellectual  basis  than  the  consciousness  of 
prevalent  unbelief  and  a  second-hand  acquaintance 
with  its  teachings.  Few  things  are  more  needed 
among  us  now  than  this  full  assurance  and  satis- 
faction of  the  understanding  with  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus.  Nothing  is  more  wretched  than  the  slow 
paralysis  creeping  over  faith,  the  fading  of  what  had 
been  stars  into  darkness.  A  tragedy  is  being 
wrought  in  many  minds  which  have  had  to  ex- 
change Christ's  "  Verily,  verily,"  for  a  miserable 
**  perhaps,"  and  can  no  longer  say  "  I  know,"  but  only, 
*'  I  would  fain  believe,"  or  at  the  best,  "  I  incline  to 
think  still."  On  the  other  hand,  the  "  full  assurance 
of  the  understanding"  brings  wealth.  It  breathes 
peace  over  the  soul,  and  gives  endless  riches  in  the 
truths  which  through  .it  are  made  living  and  real. 


Col.  iu  1.3.]  PAWS  STRIVING,  161 

This  wealth  of  conviction  is  attained  by  living  in 
the  love  of  God.  Of  course,  there  is  an  intellectual 
discipline  which  is  also  needed.  But  no  intellectual 
process  will  lead  to  an  assured  grasp  of  spiritual 
truth,  unless  it  be  accompanied  by  love.  As  soon 
may  we  lay  hold  of  truth  with  our  hands,  as  of  God 
in  Christ  with  our  understandings  alone.  This  is  the 
constant  teaching  of  Scripture — that,  if  we  would 
know  God  and  have  assurance  of  Him,  we  must  love 
Him.  "  In  order  to  love  human  things,  it  is 
necessary  to  know  them.  In  order  to  know  Divine 
things,  it  is  necessary  to  love  them."  When  we 
are  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  we  shall  be  able 
to  know — for  what  we  have  most  need  to  know  and 
what  the  gospel  has  mainly  to  teach  us  is  the  love, 
and  "  unless  the  eye  with  which  we  look  is  love,  how 
shall  we  know  love  ?  "  If  we  love,  we  shall  possess 
an  experience  which  verifies  the  truth  for  us,  will 
give  us  an  irrefragable  demonstration  which  will 
bring  certitude  to  ourselves,  however  little  it  may 
avail  to  convince  others.  Rich  in  the  possession 
of  this  confirmation  of  the  gospel  by  the  blessings 
which  have  come  to  us  from  it,  and  which  witness 
of  their  source,  as  the  stream  that  dots  some  barren 
plain  with  a  line  of  green  along  its  course  is  re- 
vealed thereby,  we  shall  have  the  right  to  oppose  to 
many  a  doubt  the  full  assurance  born  of  love,  and 
while  others  are  disputing  whether  there  be  any  God, 
or  any  living  Christ,  or  any  forgiveness  of  sins,  or 
any  guiding  providence,  we  shall  know  that  they  are, 
and  are  ours,  because  we  have  felt  the  power  and 
wealth  which  they  have  brought  into  our  lives. 

(4)  This  unity  of  love  will  lead  to  full  knowledge 
of  the  mystery  of  God.      Such  seems  to  be  the  con- 

II 


t62  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

nection  of  the  next  words,  which  may  be  literally  read 
"  unto  the  full  knowledge  of  the  mystery  of  God," 
and  may  be  best  regarded  as  a  co-ordinate  clause 
with  the  preceding,  depending  iike  it  on  "  being 
knit  together  in  love."  So  taken,  there  is  set  forth 
a  double  issue  of  that  compaction  in  love  to  God 
and  one  another,  namely,  the  calm  assurance  in  the 
grasp  of  truth  already  possessed,  and  the  more 
mature  and  deeper  insight  into  the  deep  things  of 
God.  The  word  for  knowledge  here  is  the  same  as 
in  i.  9,  and  here  as  there  means  a  full  knowledge. 
The  Colossians  had  known  Christ  at  first,  but  the 
Apostle's  desire  is  that  they  may  come  to  a  fuller 
knowledge,  for  the  object  to  be  known  is  infinite, 
and  endless  degrees  in  the  perception  and  posses- 
sion of  His  power  and  grace  are  possible.  In  that 
fuller  knowledge  they  will  not  leave  beliind  what 
they  knew  at  first,  but  will  find  in  it  deeper  meaning, 
a  larger  wisdom  and  a  fuller  truth. 

Among  the  large  number  of  readings  of  the  follow- 
ing words,  that  adopted  by  the  Revised  Version  is 
to  be  preferred,  and  the  translation  which  it  gives 
is  the  most  natural  and  is  in  accordance  with  the 
previous  thought  in  chapter  i.  27,  where  also  "the 
mystery "  is  explained  to  be  "  Christ  in  you."  A 
slight  variation  in  the  conception  is  presented  here. 
The  "  mystery "  is  Christ,  not  "  in  you,"  but  "  in 
Whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge."  The  great  truth  long  hidden,  now 
revealed,  is  that  the  whole  wealth  of  spiritual  insight 
(knowledge),  and  of  reasoning  on  the  truths  thus 
apprehended  so  as  to  gain  an  ordered  system  of 
belief  and  a  coherent  law  of  conduct  (wisdom),  is 
stored  for  us  in  Christ. 


Colli.  1-3.]  PAULS  STRIVING.  163 

Such  being  in  brief  the  connection  and  outline 
meaning  of  these  great  words,  we  may  touch  upon 
the  various  principles  embodied  in  them.  We  have 
seen,  in  commenting  upon  a  former  part  of  the 
Epistle,  the  force  of  the  great  thought  that  Christ  in 
His  relations  to  us  is  the  mystery  of  God,  and  need 
not  repeat  what  was  then  said.  But  we  may  pause 
for  a  moment  on  the  fact  that  the  knowledge  of 
that  mystery  has  its  stages.  The  revelation  of  the 
mystery  is  complete.  No  further  stages  are  possible 
in  that.  But  while  the  revelation  is,  in  Paul's 
estimate,  finished,  and  the  long  concealed  truth  now 
stands  in  full  sunshine,  our  apprehension  of  it  may 
grow,  and  there  is  a  mature  knowledge  possible. 
Some  poor  ignorant  soul  catches  through  the  gloom 
a  glimpse  of  God  manifested  in  the  flesh,  and  bearing 
his  sins.  That  soul  will  never  outgrow  that  know- 
ledge, but  as  the  years  pass,  life  and  reflection  and 
experience  will  help  to  explain  and  deepen  it.  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten 
Son — there  is  nothing  beyond  that  truth.  Grasped 
however  imperfectly,  it  brings  light  and  peace. 
But  as  it  is  loved  and  lived  by,  it  unfolds  undreamed- 
of depths,  and  flashes  with  growing  brightness. 
Suppose  that  a  man  could  set  out  from  the  great 
planet  that  moves  on  the  outermost  rim  of  our 
system,  and  could  travel  slowly  inwards  towards  the 
central  sun,  how  the  disc  would  grow,  and  the  light 
and  warmth  increase  with  each  million  of  miles  that 
he  crossed,  till  what  had  seemed  a  point  filled  the 
whole  sky !  Christian  growth  is  into,  not  away 
from  Christ,  a  penetrating  deeper  into  the  centre, 
and  a  drawing  out  into  distinct  consciousness  as  a 
coherent  system,  all  that  was  wrapped,  as  the  leaves 


i64  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

in  their  brown  sheath,  in  that  first  glimpse  of  Him 
which  saves  the  soul. 

These  stages  are  infinite,  because  in  Him  are  all 
the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  These  four 
words,  treasures,  wisdom^  knowledge ,  hidden,  are  all 
familiar  on  the  lips  of  the  latter  Gnostics,  and  were 
so,  no  doubt,  in  the  mouths  of  the  false  teachers  at 
Colossae.  The  Apostle  would  assert  for  his  gospel 
all  which  they  falsely  claimed  for  their  dreams.  As 
in  several  other  places  of  this  Epistle,  he  avails 
himself  of  his  antagonists'  special  vocabulary,  trans- 
ferring its  terms,  from  the  illusory  phantoms  which  a 
false  knowledge  adorned  with  them,  to  the  truth 
which  he  had  to  preach.  He  puts  special  emphasis 
on  the  predicate  "  hidden  "  by  throwing  it  to  the  end 
of  the  sentence — a  peculiarity  which  is  reproduced 
with  advantage  in  the  Revised  Version. 

All  wisdom  and  knowledge  are  in  Christ.  He  is 
the  Light  of  men,  and  all  thought  and  truth  of  every 
sort  come  from  Him  Who  is  the  Eternal  Word, 
the  Incarnate  Wisdom.  That  Incarnate  Word  is  the 
perfect  Revelation  of  God,  and  by  His  one  com- 
pleted life  and  death  has  declared  the  whole  name 
of  God  to  His  brethren,  of  which  all  other  media  of 
revelation  have  but  uttered  broken  syllables.  That 
ascended  Christ  breathes  wisdom  and  knowledge  into 
all  who  love  Him,  and  still  pursues,  by  giving  us  the 
Spirit  of  wisdom,  His  great  work  of  revealing  God 
to  men,  according  to  His  own  word,  which  at  once 
asserted  the  completeness  of  the  revelation  made  by 
His  earthly  life  and  promised  the  perpetual  con- 
tinuance of  the  revelation  from  His  heavenly  seat ; 
"  I  have  declared  Thy  name  unto  My  brethren,  and 
will  declare  it." 


Col.  ii.  1-3.]  PAUnS  STRIVING.  165 

In  Christ,  as  in  a  great  storehouse,  lie  all  the 
riches  of  spiritual  wisdom,  the  massive  ingots  of  solid 
gold  which  when  coined  into  creeds  and  doctrines 
are  the  wealth  of  the  Church.  All  which  we  can 
know  concerning  God  and  man,  concerning  sin  and 
righteousness  and  duty,  concerning  another  life,  is  in 
Him  Who  is  the  home  and  deep  mine  where  truth  is 
stored. 

In  Christ  these  treasures  are  "hidden,"  but  not, 
as  the  heretics'  mysteries  were  hidden,  in  order  that 
they  might  be  out  of  reach  of  the  vulgar  crowd. 
This  mystery  is  hidden  indeed,  but  it  is  revealbd. 
It  is  hidden  only  from  the  eyes  that  will  not  see  it. 
It  is  hidden  that  seeking  souls  may  have  the  joy 
of  seeking  and  the  rest  of  finding.  The  very  act  of 
revealing  is  a  hiding,  as  our  Lord  has  said  in  His 
great  thanksgiving  because  these  things  are  (by  one 
and  the  same  act)  "  hid  from  the  wise  and  prudent, 
and  revealed  to  babes."  They  are  hid,  as  men  store 
provisions  in  the  Arctic  regions,  in  order  that 
the  bears  may  not  find  them  and  the  shipwrecked 
sailors  may. 

Such  thoughts  have  a  special  message  for  times 
of  agitation  such  as  the  Colossian  Church  was  passing 
through,  and  such  as  we  have  to  face.  We  too  are 
surrounded  by  eager  confident  voices,  proclaiming 
profounder  truths  and  a  deeper  wisdom  than  the 
gospel  gives  us.  In  joyful  antagonism  to  these, 
Christian  men  have  to  hold  fast  by  the  confidence 
that  all  Divine  wisdom  is  laid  up  in  their  Lord. 
We  need  not  go  to  others  to  learn  new  truth.  The 
new  problems  of  each  generation  to  the  end  of  time 
will  find  their  answers  in  Christ,  and  new  issues  of 
that  old  message  which   we   have  heard   from   the 


i66  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CG  LOSS  JANS, 

beginning  will  continually  be  discerned.  Let  us  not 
wonder  if  the  lessons  which  the  earlier  ages  of  the 
Church  drew  from  that  infinite  storehouse  fail  at 
many  points  to  meet  the  eager  questionings  of  to- 
day. Nor  let  us  suppose  that  the  stars  are  quenched 
because  the  old  books  of  astronomy  are  in  some 
respects  out  of  date.  We  need  not  cast  aside  the 
truths  that  we  learned  at  our  mother's  knees.  The 
central  fact  of  the  universe  and  the  perfect  encylo- 
paedia  of  all  moral  and  spiritual  truth  is  Christ,  the 
Incarnate  Word,  the  Lamb  slain,  the  ascended  King. 
If  we  keep  true  to  Him  and  strive  to  widen  our 
minds  to  the  breadth  of  that  great  message,  it  will 
grow  as  we  gaze,  even  as  the  nightly  heavens  expand 
to  the  eye  which  stedfastly  looks  into  them,  and 
reveal  violet  abysses  sown  with  sparkling  points, 
each  of  which  is  a  sun.  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we 
go  ?     Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

The  ordinary  type  of  Christian  life  is  contented 
with  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  Christ.  Many 
understand  no  more  of  Him  and  of  His  gospel  than 
they  did  when  first  they  learned  to  love  Him.  So 
completely  has  the  very  idea  of  a  progressive  know- 
ledge of  Jesus  Christ  faded  from  the  horizon  of  the 
average  Christian  that  "  edification,"  which  ought  to 
mean  the  progressive  building  up  of  the  character 
course  by  course,  in  new  knowledge  and  grace,  has 
come  to  mean  little  more  than  the  sense  of  comfort 
derived  from  the  reiteration  of  old  and  familiar  words 
which  fall  on  the  ear  with  a  pleasant  murmur. 
There  is  sadly  too  little  first-hand  and  growing 
knowledge  of  their  Lord,  among  Christian  people, 
too  little  belief  that  fresh  treasures  may  be  found 
hidden  in  that  field  which,  to  each  soul  and  each 


Col.  ii.  1-3.]  PAUL'S  STRIVING,  167 

new  generation  struggling  with  its  own  special  forms 
of  the  burdens  and  problems  that  press  upon 
humanity,  would  be  cheaply  bought  by  selling  all, 
but  may  be  won  at  the  easier  rate  of  earnest  desire 
to  possess  them,  and  faithful  adherence  to  Him  in 
whom  they  are  stored  for  the  world.  The  condition 
of  growth  for  the  branch  is  abiding  in  the  vine.  If 
our  hearts  are  knit  together  with  Christ's  heart  in 
that  love  which  is  the  parent  of  communion,  both  as 
delighted  contemplation  and  as  glad  obedience,  then 
we  shall  daily  dig  deeper  into  the  mine  of  wealth 
which  is  hid  in  Him  that  it  may  be  found,  and  draw 
forth  an  unfailing  supply  of  things  new  and  old. 


XI. 


CONCTLTATORY  AND  HORTATORY  TRANSITION  TO 
POLEMICS. 

**This  I  say,  that  no  one  may  delude  you  with  persuasiveness  of 
speech.  For  though  I  am  absent  in  the  flesh,  yet  am  I  with  you  in  the 
spirit,  jojnng  and  beholding  your  order,  and  the  stedfastness  of  your 
faith  in  Christ. 

**  As  therefore  ye  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  in  Him, 
rooted  and  builded  up  in  Him,  and  stablished  in  your  faith,  even  as 
ye  were  taught,  abounding  in  thanksgiving."— Col.  ii.  4-7  (Rev.  Ver.). 

NOTHING  needs  more  delicacy  of  hand  and 
gentleness  of  heart  than  the  adminstration  of 
warning  or  reproof,  especially  when  directed  against 
errors  of  religious  opinion.  It  is  sure  to  do  harm 
unless  the  person  reproved  is  made  to  feel  that  it 
comes  from  true  kindly  interest  in  him,  and  does  full 
justice  to  his  honesty.  Warning  so  easily  passes 
into  scolding,  and  sounds  to  the  warned  so  like  it 
even  when  the  speaker  does  not  mean  it  so,  that 
there  is  special  need  to  modulate  the  voice  very 
carefully. 

So  in  this  context,  the  Apostle  has  said  much 
about  his  deep  interest  in  the  Colossian  Church, 
and  has  dwelt  on  the  passionate  earnestness  of  his 
solicitude  for  them,  his  conflict  of  intercession  and 
sympathy,  and  the  large  sweep  of  his  desires  for  their 
good.  But  he  does  not  feel  that  he  can  venture  to 
begin  his  warnings  till  he  has  said  something  more, 


Col.  ii.  4-7-]         CCNCTLTATORY  TRANSITION:  169 

SO  as  to  conciliate  them  still  further,  and  to  remove 
from  their  minds  other  thoughts  unfavourable  to  the 
sympathetic  reception  of  his  words.  One  can  fancy 
some  Colossians  saying,  "  What  need  is  there  for  all 
this  anxiety?  Why  should  Paul  be  in  such  a  taking 
about  us  ?  He  is  exaggerating  our  danger,  and  doing 
scant  justice  to  our  Christian  character."  Nothing 
stops  the  ear  to  the  voice  of  warning  more  surely 
than  a  feeling  that  it  is  pitched  in  too  solemn  a  key, 
and  fails  to  recognise  the  good. 

So  before  he  goes  further,  he  gathers  up  his 
motives  in  giving  the  following  admonitions,  and 
gives  his  estimate  of  the  condition  of  the  Colossians, 
in  the  two  first  of  the  verses  now  under  consideration. 
All  that  he  has  been  saying  has  been  said  not  so 
much  because  he  thinks  that  they  have  gone  wrong, 
but  because  he  knows  that  there  are  heretical  teachers 
at  work,  who  may  lead  them  astray  with  plausible 
lessons.  He  is  not  combating  errors  which  have 
already  swept  away  the  faith  of  the  Colossian 
Christians,  but  putting  them  on  their  guard  against 
such  as  threaten  them.  He  is  not  trying  to  pump 
the  water  out  of  a  water-logged  vessel,  but  to  stop  a 
little  leak  which  is  in  danger  of  gaping  wider.  And, 
in  his  solicitude,  he  has  much  confidence  and  is 
encouraged  to  speak  because,  absent  from  them  as 
he  is,  he  has  a  vivid  assurance,  which  gladdens  him, 
of  the  solidity  and  firmness  of  their  faith. 

So  with  this  distinct  definition  of  the  precise 
danger  which  he  feared,  and  this  soothing  assurance 
of  his  glad  confidence  in  their  stedfast  order,  the 
Apostle  at  last  opens  his  batteries.  The  6th  and 
7th  verses  are  the  first  shot  fired,  the  beginning  of 
the  monitions   so  long  and    carefully  prepared  for. 


170  THE  EFISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

They  contain  a  general  exhortation,  which  may  be 
taken  as  the  keynote  for  the  polemical  portion  of 
the  Epistle,  which  occupies  the  rest  of  the  chapter. 

I.  We  have  then  first,  the  purpose  of  the  Apostle's 
previous  self-revelation.  "  This  I  say  " — this  namely 
which  is  contained  in  the  preceding  verses,  the  ex- 
pression of  his  solicitude,  and  perhaps  even  more 
emphatically,  the  declaration  of  Christ  as  the  revealed 
secret  of  God,  the  inexhaustible  storehouse  of  all 
wisdom  and  knowledge.  The  purpose  of  the  Apostle, 
then,  in  his  foregoing  words  has  been  to  guard  the 
Colosslans  against  the  danger  to  which  they  were 
exposed,  of  being  deceived  and  led  astray  by  "  per- 
suasiveness of  speech."  That  expression  is  not 
necessarily  used  in  a  bad  sense,  but  here  it  evidently 
has  a  tinge  of  censure,  and  implies  some  doubt 
both  of  the  honesty  of  the  speakers  and  of  the  truth- 
fulness of  their  words.  Here  we  have  an  important 
piece  of  evidence  as  to  the  then  condition  of  the 
Colossian  Church.  There  were  false  teachers  busy 
amongst  them  who  belonged  in  some  sense  to  the 
Christian  community.  But  probably  these  were  not 
Colossians,  but  wandering  emissaries  of  a  Judaizing 
Gnosticism,  while  certainly  the  great  mass  of  the 
Church  was  untouched  by  their  speculations.  They 
were  in  danger  of  getting  bewildered,  and  being 
deceived^  that  is  to  say,  of  being  induced  to  accept 
certain  teaching  because  of  its  speciousness,  with- 
out seeing  all  its  bearings,  or  even  knowing  its  real 
meaning.  So  error  ever  creeps  into  the  Church. 
Men  are  caught  by  something  fascinating  in  some 
popular  teaching,  and  follow  it  without  knowing 
where  it  will  lead  them.  By  slow  degrees  its 
tendencies  are  disclosed,  and  at  last  the  followers  of' 


Col.  ii. 4-7.]        CONCILIATORY  TRANSITION,  171 

the  heresiarch  wake  to  find  that  everything  which 
they  once  believed  and  prized  has  dropped  from 
their  creed. 

We  may  learn  here,  too,  the  true  safeguard 
against  specious  errors.  Paul  thinks  that  he  can 
best  fortify  these  simple-minded  disciples  against  all 
harmful  teaching  by  exalting  his  Master  and  urging 
the  inexhaustible  significance  of  His  person  and 
message.  To  learn  the  full  meaning  and  precious- 
ness  of  Christ  is  to  be  armed  against  error.  The 
positive  truth  concerning  Him,  by  preoccupying 
mind  and  heart,  guards  beforehand  against  the  most 
specious  teachings.  If  you  fill  the  coffer  with  gold, 
nobody  will  want,  and  there  will  be  no  room  for, 
pinchbeck.  A  living  grasp  of  Christ  will  keep  us 
from  being  swept  away  by  the  current  of  prevailing 
popular  opinion,  which  is  always  much  more  likely 
to  be  wrong  than  right,  and  is  sure  to  be  exag- 
gerated and  one-sided  at  the  best.  A  personal 
consciousness  of  His  power  and  sweetness  will  give 
an  instinctive  repugnance  to  teaching  that  would 
lower  His  dignity  and  debase  His  work.  If  He  be 
the  centre  and  anchorage  of  all  our  thoughts,  we  shall 
not  be  tempted  to  go  elsewhere  in  search  of  the 
"  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge "  which  "  are 
hid  in  Him/*  He  who  has  found  the  one  pearl  of 
great  price,  needs  no  more  to  go  seeking  goodly 
pearls,  but  only  day  by  day  more  completely  to  lose 
self,  and  give  up  all  else,  that  he  may  win  more  and 
more  of  Christ  his  All.  If  we  keep  our  hearts  and 
minds  in  communion  with  our  Lord,  and  have  ex- 
perience of  His  preciousness,  that  will  preserve  us 
from  many  a  snare,  will  give  us  a  wisdom  beyond 
much  logic,  will  solve  for  us  many  of  the  questions 


172  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSJIANS. 

most  hotly  debated  to-day,  and  will  show  us  that 
many  more  are  unimportant  and  uninteresting  to  us. 
And  even  if  we  should  be  led  to  wrong  conclusions 
on  some  matters,  "  if  we  drink  any  deadly  thing,  it 
shall  not  hurt  us." 

II.  We  see  here  the  joy  which  blended  with  the 
anxiety  of  the  solitary  prisoner,  and  encouraged  him 
to  warn  the  Colossians  against  impending  dangers 
to  their  faith. 

We  need  not  follow  the  grammatical  commen- 
tators in  their  discussion  of  how  Paul  comes  to 
invert  the  natural  order  here,  and  to  say "  joying 
and  beholding,"  instead  of  "  beholding  and  re- 
joicing "  as  we  should  expect.  No  one  doubts  that 
what  he  saw  in  spirit  was  the  cause  of  his  joy. 
The  old  man  in  his  prison,  loaded  with  many  cares, 
com.pelled  to  be  inactive  in  the  cause  which  was 
more  to  him  than  life,  is  yet  full  of  spirit  and 
buoyancy.  His  prison-letters  all  partake  of  that 
"  rejoicing  in  the  Lord,"  which  is  the  keynote  of 
one  of  them.  Old  age  and  apparent  failure,  and 
the  exhaustion  of  long  labours,  and  the  disappoint- 
ments and  sorrows  which  almost  always  gather  like 
evening  clouds  round  a  life  as  it  sinks  in  the  west, 
had  not  power  to  quench  his  fiery  energy  or  to  blunt 
his  keen  interest  in  all  the  Churches.  His  cell  was 
like  the  centre  of  a  telephonic  system.  Voices 
spoke  from  all  sides.  Every  Church  was  connected 
with  it,  and  messages  were  perpetually  being 
brought.  Think  of  him  sitting  there,  eagerly 
listening,  and  thrilling  with  sympathy  at  each  word, 
so  self-oblivious  was  he,  so  swallowed  up  were  all 
personal  ends  in  the  care  for  the  Churches,  and  in 
the  swift,  deep  fellow-feeling  with  them  ?     Love  and 


Col. ii. 4-7.]        CONCILIATORY  TRANSITION.  173 

interest  quickened  his  insight,  and  though  he  v/as 
far  away,  he  had  them  so  vividly  before  him  that 
he  was  as  if  a  spectator.  The  joy  which  he  had  in 
the  thought  of  them  made  him  dwell  on  the  thought 
— so  the  apparently  inverted  order  of  the  words 
may  be  the  natural  one  and  he  may  have  looked  all 
the  more  fixedly  because  it  gladdened  him  to  look. 

What  did  he  see }  "  Your  order."  That  is 
unquestionably  a  military  metaphor,  drawn  probably 
from  his  experiences  of  the  Praetorians,  while  in 
captivity.  He  had  plenty  of  opportunities  of  study- 
ing both  the  equipment  of  the  single  legionary,  who, 
in  the  6th  chapter  of  Ephesians,  sat  for  his  portrait 
to  the  prisoner  to  whom  he  was  chained,  and  also 
the  perfection  of  discipline  in  the  whole  which  made 
the  legion  so  formidable.  It  was  not  a  multitude 
but  a  unit,  "  moving  altogether  if  it  move  at  all,"  as 
if  animated  by  one  will.  Paul  rejoices  to  know  that 
the  Colossian  Church. was  thus  welded  into  a  solid 
unity. 

Further,  he  beholds  "  the  stedfastness  of  your 
faith  in  Christ."  This  may  be  a  continuation  of  the 
military  metaphor,  and  may  mean  "  the  solid  front, 
the  close  phalanx  "  which  your  faith  presents.  But 
whether  we  suppose  the  figure  to  be  carried  on  or 
dropped,  we  must,  I  think,  recognise  that  this  second 
point  refers  rather  to  the  inward  condition  than  to 
the  outward  discipline  of  the  Colossians. 

Here  then  is  set  forth  a  lofty  ideal  of  the  Church, 
in  two  respects.  First  there  is  outwardly,  an 
ordered  disciplined  array ;  and  secondly,  there  is  a 
stedfast  faith. 

As  to  the  first,  Paul  was  no  martinet,  anxious 
about  the   pedantry  of  the  parade  ground,  but  he 


174  ^-^^  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS, 

knew  the  need  of  organization  and  drill.  Any  body 
of  men  united  in  order  to  carry  out  a  specific  purpose 
have  to  be  organized.  That  means  a  place  for  every 
man,  and  every  man  in  his  place.  It  means  co-oper- 
ation to  one  common  end,  and  therefore  division  of 
function  and  subordination.  Order  does  not  merely 
mean  obedience  to  authority.  There  may  be  equal 
"order"  under  vi^idely  different  forms  of  polity.  The 
legionaries  were  drawn  up  in  close  ranks,  the  light- 
armed  skirmishers  more  loosely.  In  the  one  case 
the  phalanx  was  more  and  the  individual  less ;  in 
the  other  there  was  more  play  given  to  the  single 
'man,  and  less  importance  to  corporate  action  ;  but 
the  difference  between  them  was  not  that  of  order 
and  disorder,  but  that  of  two  systems,  each  organized 
but  on  somewhat  different  principles  and  for  different 
purposes.  A  loosely  linked  chain  is  as  truly  a  chain 
as  a  rigid  one.  The  main  requirement  for  such 
"  order  "  as  gladdened  the  Apostle  is  conjoint  action 
to  one  end,  with  variety  of  office,  and  unity  of  spirit. 
Some  Churches  give  more  weight  to  the  principle 
of  authority  ;  others  to  that  of  individuality.  They 
may  criticise  each  other's  polity,  but  the  former  has 
no  right  to  reproach  the  latter  as  being  necessarily 
defective  in  "order."  Some  Churches  are  all  drill, 
and  their  favourite  idea  of  discipline  is,  Obey  them 
that  have  the  rule  over  you.  The  Churches  of  looser 
organization,  on  the  other  hand,  are  no  doubt  in 
danger  of  making  too  little  of  organization.  But 
both  need  that  all  their  members  should  be  more 
penetrated  by  the  sense  of  unity,  and  should  fill  each 
his  place  in  the  work  of  the  body.  It  was  far  easier 
to  secure  the  true  order — a  place  and  a  task  for 
every  man  and  every  man  in  his  place  and  at  his 


Col. ii. 4-7.]        CONCH lA TORY  TRANSI270N,  175 

task — in  the  small  homogeneous  communities  of 
apostolic  times  than  it  is  now,  when  men  of  such 
different  social  position,  education,  and  ways  of  think- 
ing are  found  in  the  same  Christian  community. 
The  proportion  of  idlers  in  all  Churches  is  a  scandal 
and  a  weakness.  However  highly  organized  and 
officered  a  Church  may  be,  no  joy  would  fill  an 
apostle's  heart  in  beholding  it,  if  the  mass  of  its 
members  had  no  share  in  its  activities.  Every 
society  of  professing  Christians  should  be  like  a  man 
of  war's  crew,  each  of  whom  knows  the  exact  inch 
where  he  has  to  stand  when  the  whistle  sounds,  and 
the  precise  thing  he  has  to  do  in  the  gun  drill. 

But  the  perfection  of  discipline  is  not  enough. 
That  may  stiffen  into  routine  if  there  be  not  some- 
thing deeper.  We  want  life  even  more  than  order. 
The  description  of  the  soldiers  who  set  David  on  the 
throne  should  describe  Christ's  army — "  men  that 
could  keep  rank,  they  were  not  of  double  heart." 
They  had  discipline  and  had  learned  to  accommodate 
their  stride  to  the  length  of  their  comrades'  step ; 
but  they  had  whole-hearted  enthusiasm,  which  was 
better.  Both  are  needed.  If  there  be  not  courage 
and  devotion  there  is  nothing  worth  disciplining. 
The  Church  that  has  the  most  complete  order  and 
not  also  stedfastness  of  faith  will  be  like  the  German 
armies,  all  pipeclay  and  drill,  which  ran  like  hares 
before  the  ragged  shoeless  levies  whom  the  first 
French  Revolution  flung  across  the  border  with  a 
fierce  enthusiasm  Mazing  in  their  hearts.  So  the 
Apostle  beholds  ^^ith  joy  the  stedfastness  of  the 
Colossians'  faith  toward  Christ. 

If  the  rendering  "  stedfastness  **  be  adopted  as  in 
the  Rev  Ver.,  the  phrase  will  be  equivalent  to  the 


176  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

"  firmness  which  characterizes  or  belongs  to  your 
faith."  But  some  of  the  best  commentators  deny 
that  this  meaning  of  the  word  is  ever  found,  and 
propose  "  foundation  "  (that  which  is  made  stedfast). 
The  meaning  then  will  either  be  "  the  firm  foundation 
(for  your  lives)  which  consists  of  your  faith,"  or, 
more  probably,  "the  firm  foundation  which  your 
faith  has."  He  rejoices,  seeing  that  their  faith 
towards  Jesus  Christ  has  a  basis  unshaken  by  assaults. 
Such  a  rock  foundation,  and  consequent  stedfast- 
ness,  must  faith  have,  if  it  is  to  be  worthy  of  the 
name  and  to  manifest  its  true  power.  A  tremulous 
faith  may,  thank  God  !  be  a  true  faith,  but  the  very 
idea  of  faith  implies  solid  assurance  and  fixed  con- 
fidence. Our  faith  should  be  able  to  resist  pressure 
and  to  keep  its  ground  against  assaults  and  gain- 
saying. It  should  not  be  like  a  child's  card  castle, 
that  the  light  breath  of  a  scornful  laugh  will  throw 
down,  but 

"a  tower  of  strength 
That  stands  foursquare  to  all  the  winds  that  blow,** 

We  should  seek  to  make  it  so,  nor  let  the  fluctua- 
tions of  our  own  hearts  cause  it  to  fluctuate.  We 
should  try  so  to  control  the  ebb  and  flow  of  religious 
emotion  that  it  may  always  be  near  high  water  with 
our  faith,  a  tideless  but  not  stagnant  sea.  We  should 
oppose  a  settled  conviction  and  unalterable  con- 
fidence to  the  noisy  voices  which  would  draw  us  away. 
And  that  we  may  do  so  we  must  keep  up  a  true 
and  close  communion  with  Jesus  Christ.  The  faith 
which  is  ever  going  out  "  towards  "  Him,  as  the  sun- 
flower turns  sunwards,  will  ever  draw  from  Him  such 
blessed  gifts  that  doubt  or  distrust  will  be  impossible. 
If  we  keeo  near  our  Lord  and  wait  expectant  on 


Colli.  4-7-1        CONCILIATORY  TRANSITION.  177 

Him,  He  will  increase  our  faith  and  make  our 
"hearts  fixed,  trusting  in  the  Lord."  So  a  greater 
than  Paul  may  speak  even  to  us,  as  He  walks  in  the 
midst  of  the  golden  candlesticks,  words  which  from 
His  lips  will  be  praise  indeed  :  "  Though  I  am 
absent  in  the  flesh,  yet  am  I  with  you  in  the  spirit, 
joying  and  beholding  your  order  and  the  stedfastness 
of  your  faith  in  Me." 

ni.  We  have  here,  the  exhortation  which  com- 
prehends all  duty,  and  covers  the  whole  ground  of 
Christian  belief  and  practice. 

"  Therefore  " — the  following  exhortation  is  based 
upon  the  warning  and  commendation  of  the  pre- 
ceding verses.  There  is  first  a  wide  general  injunc- 
tion. "As  ye  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so 
walk  in  Him,"  i.e,  let  your  active  life  be  in  accord 
with  what  you  learned  and  obtained  when  you  first 
became  Christians.  Then  this  exhortation  is  defined 
or  broken  up  into  four  particulars  in  the  following 
clauses,  which  explain  in  detail  how  it  is  to  be  kept. 

The  general  exhortation  is  to  a  true  Christian 
walk.  The  main  force  lies  upon  the  "  as."  The 
command  is  to  order  all  life  in  accordance  with  the 
early  lessons  and  acquisitions.  The  phrase  "  ye 
received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord "  presents  several 
points  requiring  notice.  It  is  obviously  parallel 
with  "  as  ye  were  taught  "  in  the  next  verse  ;  so  that 
it  was  from  their  first  teachers,  and  probably  from 
Epaphras  (i.  7)  that  they  had  "  received  Christ."  So 
then  what  we  receive,  when,  from  human  lips,  we 
hear  the  gospel  and  accept  it,  is  not  merely  the 
word  about  the  Saviour,  but  the  Saviour  Himself. 
This  expre^'ision  of  our  text  is  no  mere  loose  or 
rhetorical  mode  of  speech,  but  a  literal  and  blessed 

12 


178  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 

truth.  Christ  is  the  sum  of  all  Christian  teaching 
and,  where  the  message  of  His  love  is  welcomed, 
He  Himself  comes  in  spiritual  and  real  presence,  and 
dwells  in  the  spirit. 

The  solemnity  of  the  full  name  of  our  Saviour  in 
this  connection  is  most  significant  Paul  reminds 
the  Colossians,  in  view  of  the  teaching  which 
degraded  the  person  and  curtailed  the  work  of 
Christ,  that  they  had  received  the  man  Jesus,  the 
promised  Christ,  the  universal  Lord.  As  if  he  had 
said.  Remember  whom  you  received  in  your  conver- 
sion— Christy  the  Messiah,  anointed,  that  is,  fitted 
by  the  unmeasured  possession  of  the  Divine  Spirit 
to  fulfil  all  prophecy  and  to  be  the  world's  deliverer. 
Remember  JesuSy  the  man,  our  brother  ; — therefore 
listen  to  no  misty  speculations  nor  look  to  whispered 
mysteries  nor  to  angel  hierarchies  for  knowledge  of 
God  or  for  help  in  conflict.  Our  gospel  is  not 
theory  spun  out  of  men's  brains,  but  is,  first  and 
foremost,  the  history  of  a  brother's  life  and  death. 
You  received  Jesus^  so  you  are  delivered  from  the 
tyranny  of  these  unsubstantial  and  portentous 
systems,  and  relegated  to  the  facts  of  a  human  life 
for  your  knowledge  of  God.  You  received  Jesus 
Christ  as  Lord.  He  was  proclaimed  as  Lord  of  men, 
angels,  and  the  universe,  Lord  and  Creator  of  the 
spiritual  and  material  worlds.  Lord  of  history  and 
providence.  Therefore  you  need  not  give  heed  to 
those  teachers  who  would  fill  the  gulf  between  men 
and  God  with  a  crowd  of  powers  and  rulers.  You 
have  all  that  your  mind  or  heart  or  will  can  need  in 
the  human  Divine  Jesus,  who  is  the  Christ  and  the 
Lord  for  you  and  all  men.  You  have  received  Him 
in  the    all-sufficiency  of   His  revealed   nature  and 


Col.ii.4-:]        CONCILIATORY  TRANSITION,  I'jg 


offices.  You  have  Him  for  your  very  own.  Hold 
fast  that  which  you  have,  and  let  no  man  take  this 
your  crown  and  treasure.  The  same  exhortation 
ha^s  emphatic  application  to  the  conflicts  of  to-day. 
The  Church  has  had  Jesus  set  forth  as  Christ  and 
Lord.  His  manhood,  the  historical  reality  of  His 
Incarnation  with  all  its  blessed  issues.  His  Messiah- 
ship  as  the  fulfiller  of  prophecy  and  symbol,  desig- 
nated and  fitted  by  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit,  to  be 
man's  deliverer,  His  rule  and  authority  over  all 
creatures  and  events  have  been  taught,  and  the 
tumults  of  present  unsettlement  make  it  hard  and 
needful  to  keep  true  to  that  threefold  belief,  and  to 
let  nothing  rob  us  of  any  of  the  elements  of  the  full 
gospel  which  lies  in  the  august  name,  Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord. 

To  that  gospel,  to  that  Lord,  the  walk,  the  active 
life,  is  to  be  conformed,  and  the  manner  thereof  is 
more  fully  explained  in  the  following  clauses. 

"  Rooted  and  built  up  in  Him."  Here  again  we 
have  the  profound  "  in  Him,"  which  appears  so  fre- 
quently in  this  and  in  the  companion  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  and  which  must  be  allowed  its  proper 
force,  as  expressing  a  most  real  indwelling  of  the 
believer  in  Christ,  if  the  depth  of  the  meaning  is  tc 
be  sounded. 

Paul  drives  his  fiery  chariot  through  rhetorical  pro- 
prieties, and  never  shrinks  from  "  mixed  metaphors  " 
if  they  more  vigorously  express  his  thought.  Here 
we  have  three  incongruous  ones  close  on  each  other's 
heels.  The  Christian  is  to  walky  to  be  rooted  like 
a  tree,  to  be  built  up  like  a  house.  What  does  the 
incongruity  matter  to  Paul  as  the  stream  of  thought 
and  <'ceiiiig  hurries  him  aloiig  ? 


l8o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

The  tenses  of  the  verbs,  too,  are  studiously  and 
significantly  varied.  Fully  rendered  they  would  be 
"having  been  rooted  and  being  builded  up."  The 
one  is  a  past  act  done  once  for  all,  the  effects  of 
which  are  permanent  ;  the  other  is  a  continuous 
resulting  process  which  is  going  on  now.  The 
Christian  has  been  rooted  in  Jesus  Christ  at  the 
beginning  of  his  Christian  course.  His  faith  has 
brought  him  into  living  contact  with  the  Saviour, 
who  has  become  as  the  fruitful  soil  into  which  the 
believer  sends  his  roots,  and  both  feeds  and  anchors 
there.  The  familiar  image  of  the  first  Psalm  may 
have  been  in  the  writer's  mind,  and  naturally  recurs 
to  ours.  If  we  draw  nourishment  and  stability  from 
Christ,  round  whom  the  roots  of  our  being  twine  and 
cling,  we  shall  flourish  and  grow  and  bear  fruit.  No 
man  can  do  without  some  person  beyond  himself  on 
whom  to  repose,  nor  can  any  of  us  find  in  ourselves 
or  on  earth  the  sufficient  soil  for  our  growth.  We 
are  like  seedlings  dropped  on  some  great  rock,  which 
send  their  rootlets  down  the  hard  stone  and  are 
stunted  till  they  reach  the  rich  leaf-mould  at  its 
base.  We  blindly  feel  through  all  the  barrenness 
of  the  world  for  something  into  which  our  roots  may 
plunge  that  we  may  be  nourished  and  firm.  In 
Christ  we  may  be  "  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  river 
of  water ; "  out  of  Him  we  are  "  as  the  chaff," 
rootless,  lifeless,  profitless,  and  swept  at  last  by  the 
wind  from  the  threshing  floor.  The  choice  is  before 
every  man — either  to  be  rooted  in  Christ  by  faith, 
or  to  be  rootless. 

"  Being  built  up  in  Him."  The  gradual  con- 
tinuous building  up  of  the  structure  of  a  Christian 
character  is  doubly  expressed  in  this  word  by  the 


Col.  ii.  4-7.]        CONCILIATORY  TRANSITION.  i8i 

present  tense  which  points  to  a  process,  and  by 
the  prefixed  preposition  represented  by  "  up,"  which 
points  to  the  successive  laying  of  course  of  masonry 
upon  course.  We  are  the  architects  of  our  own 
characters.  If  our  lives  are  based  on  Jesus  Christ 
as  their  foundation,  and  every  deed  is  in  vital 
connection  with  Him,  as  at  once  its  motive,  its 
pattern,  its  power,  its  aim,  and  its  reward,  then  we 
shall  build  holy  and  fair  lives,  which  will  be  temples. 
Men  do  not  merely  grow  as  a  leaf  which  "grows 
green  and  broad,  and  takes  no  care."  The  other 
metaphor  of  a  building  needs  to  be  taken  into 
account,  to  complete  the  former.  Effort,  patient 
continuous  labour  must  be  put  forth.  More  than 
"  forty  and  six  years  is  this  temple  in  building." 
A  stone  at  a  time  is  fitted  into  its  place,  and  so 
after  much  toil  and  many  years,  as  in  the  case  of 
some  mediaeval  cathedral  unfinished  for  centuries,  the 
topstone  is  brought  forth  at  last.  This  choice,  too, 
is  before  all  men — to  build  on  Christ  and  so  to 
build  for  eternity,  or  on  sand  and  so  to  be  crushed 
below  the  ruins  of  their  fallen  houses. 

"  Stablished  in  your  faith,  even  as  ye  were  taught." 
This  is  apparently  simply  a  more  definite  way  of 
putting  substantially  the  same  thoughts  as  in  the 
former  clauses.  Possibly  the  meaning  is  "  stablished 
by  faith,"  the  Colossians'  faith  being  the  instrument 
of  their  establishment.  But  the  Revised  Version  is 
probably  right  in  its  rendering,  "  stablished  in,"  or 
as  to,  "your  faith."  Their  faith,  as  Paul  had  just 
been  saying,  was  stedfast,  but  it  needed  yet  increased 
armness.  And  this  exhortation,  as  it  were,  trans- 
lates the  previous  ones  into  more  homely  language, 
thfit  if  any  man  stumbled  at  the  mysticism  of  the 


l82  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

thoughts  there,  he  might  grasp  the  plain  practical- 
ness here.  If  we  are  established  and  confirmed  in 
our  faith,  we  shall  be  rooted  and  built  up  in  Jesus, 
for  it  is  faith  which  joins  us  to  Him,  and  its  increase 
measures  our  growth  in  and  into  Him. 

There  then  is  a  very  plain  practical  issue  of  these 
deep  thoughts  of  union  with  Jesus.  A  progressive 
increase  of  our  faith  is  the  condition  of  all  Christian 
progress.  The  faith  which  is  already  the  firmest, 
and  by  its  firmness  may  gladden  an  Apostle,  is  still 
capable  of  and  needs  strengthening.  Its  range  can 
be  enlarged,  its  tenacity  increased,  its  power  over 
heart  and  life  reinforced.  The  eye  of  faith  is  never 
so  keen  but  that  it  may  become  more  longsighted  ;  its 
grasp  never  so  close  but  that  it  may  be  tightened  ; 
its  realisation  never  so  solid  but  that  it  may  be 
more  substantial ;  its  authority  never  so  great  but 
that  it  may  be  made  more  absolute.  This  continual 
strengthening  of  faith  is  the  m.ost  essential  form  of  a 
Christian's  effort  at  self-improvement.  Strengthen 
faith  and  you  strengthen  all  graces ;  for  it  measures 
our  reception  of  Divine  help. 

And  the  furthest  development  which  faith  can 
attain  should  ever  be  sedulously  kept  in  harmony 
with  the  initial  teaching — "  even  as  ye  were  taught." 
Progress  does  not  consist  in  dropping  the  early 
truths  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord  for  newer  wisdom 
and  more  speculative  religion,  but  in  discovering 
ever  deeper  lessons  and  larger  powers  in  these 
rudiments  which  are  likewise  the  last  and  highest 
lessons  which  men  can  learn. 

Further,  as  the  daily  effort  of  the  believing  soul 
ought  to  be  to  strengthen  the  quality  of  his  faith,  so 
it  should  be  to  increase  its  amount — "  abounding  in 


Col. ii. 4-7-]        CONCILIATORY  TRANSITION.  183 

it  with  thanksgiving."  Or  if  we  adopt  the  reading 
of  the  Revised  Version,  we  shall  omit  the  "  in  it," 
and  find  here  only  an  exhortation  to  thanksgiving. 
That  is,  in  any  case,  the  main  idea  of  the  clause, 
which  adds  to  the  former  the  thought  that  thanks- 
giving is  an  inseparable  accompaniment  of  vigorous 
Christian  life.  It  is  to  be  called  forth,  of  course, 
mainly  by  the  great  gift  of  Christ,  in  whom  we  are 
rooted  and  builded,  and,  in  Paul's  judgment  it  is  the 
very  spring  of  Christian  progress. 

That  constant  temper  of  gratitude  implies  a 
habitual  presence  to  the  mind,  of  God's  great  mercy 
in  His  unspeakable  gift,  a  continual  glow  of  heart 
as  we  gaze,  a  continual  appropriation  of  that  gift  for 
our  very  own,  and  a  continual  outflow  of  our  heart's 
love  to  the  Incarnate  and  Immortal  Love.  Such 
thankfulness  will  bind  us  to  glad  obedience,  and  will 
give  swiftness  to  the  foot  and  eagerness  to  the  will, 
to  run  in  the  way  of  God's  commandments.  It  is 
like  genial  sunshine,  all  flowers  breathe  perfume  and 
fruits  ripen  under  its  influence.  It  is  the  fire  which 
kindles  the  sacrifice  of  life  and  makes  it  go  up  in 
fragrant  incense-clouds,  acceptable  to  God.  The 
highest  nobleness  of  which  man  is  capable  is  reached 
when,  moved  by  the  mercies  of  God,  we  yield  our- 
selves living  sacrifices,  thank-offerings  to  Him  Who 
yielded  Himself  the  sin-offering  for  us.  The  life 
which  is  all  influenced  by  thanksgiving  will  be  pure, 
strong,  happy,  in  its  continual  counting  of  its  gifts, 
and  in  its  thoughts  of  the  Giver,  and  not  least  happy 
and  beautiful  in  its  glad  surrender  of  itself  to  Him 
who  has  given  Himself  for  and  to  it.  The  noblest 
offering  that  we  can  bring,  the  only  recompense 
which  Christ  a^ks,  is  that  our  hearts  and  our  lives 


i84  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

should  say,  We  thank  thee,  O  Lord.  "  By  Him, 
therefore,  let  us  offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise  to  God 
continually,"  and  the  continual  thanksgiving  will 
ensure  continuous  growth  in  our  Christian  character, 
and  a  constant  increase  in  the  strength  and  depth  of 
our  faith 


Xlt 

THE   BANE    AND    THE   ANTIDOTE, 

**  Take  heed  lest  there  shall  be  any  one  that  maketh  spoil  of  you  through 
his  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the 
rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ  :  for  in  Him  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  and  in  Him  ye  are  made  full,  Who  is 
the  head  of  all  principality  and  power."  — COL.  ii.  8-io  (Rev.  Ver.), 

WE  come  now  to  the  first  plain  reference  to  the 
errors  which  were  threatening  the  peace  of  the 
Colossian  community.  Here  Paul  crosses  swords 
with  the  foe.  This  is  the  point  to  which  all  his 
previous  words  have  been  steadily  converging. 
The  immediately  preceding  context  contained  the 
positive  exhortation  to  continue  in  the  Christ  Whom 
they  had  received,  having  been  rooted  in  Him  as  the 
tree  in  a  fertile  place  "  by  the  rivers  of  water,"  and 
being  continually  builded  up  in  Him,  with  ever- 
growing completeness  of  holy  character.  The  same 
exhortation  in  substance  is  contained  in  the  verses 
which  we  have  now  to  consider,  with  the  difference 
that  it  is  here  presented  negatively,  as  warning  and 
dehortation,  with  distinct  statement  of  the  danger 
which  would  uproot  the  tree  and  throw  down  the 
building,  and  drag  the  Colossians  away  from  union 
with  Christ. 

In  these  words  the  Bane  and  Antidote  are  both 
before  us      Let  us  consider  each. 


i86  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 


I.  The  Poison  against  which  Paul  warns  the 
Colossiai.s  is  plainly  described  in  our  first  verse,  the 
terms  of  rt^hich  may  require  a  brief  comment. 

"  Take  heed  lest  there  shall  be."  The  construction 
implies  that  it  is  a  real  and  not  a  hypothetical  danger 
which  he  sees  threatening.  He  is  not  crying  "wolf" 
before  theie  is  need. 

"  Any  one  " — perhaps  the  tone  of  the  warning 
would  be  better  conveyed  if  we  read  the  more 
familiar  "  somebody  "  ;  as  if  he  had  said — "  I  name 
no  names—  -it  is  not  the  persons  but  the  principles 
that  I  fight  against — but  you  know  whom  I  mean 
well  enough.  Let  him  be  anonymous,  you  under- 
stand who  it  is."  Perhaps  there  was  even  a  single 
"  somebody  *'  who  was  the  centre  of  the  mischief. 

"That  maketh  spoil  of  you."  Such  is  the  full 
meaning  of  the  word — and  not  "injure"  or  "rob," 
which  the  translation  in  the  Authorized  Version 
suggests  to  an  English  reader.  Paul  sees  the 
converts  in  Colossae  taken  prisoners  and  led  away 
with  a  cord  round  their  necks,  like  the  long  strings 
of  captives  on  the  Assyrian  monuments.  He  had 
spoken  in  the  previous  chapter  (ver.  13)  of  the 
merciful  conqueror  who  had  "  translated "  them 
from  the  realm  of  darkness  into  a  kingdom  of  light, 
and  now  he  fears  lest  a  robber  horde,  making  a 
raid  upon  the  peaceful  colonists  in  their  happy  new 
homes,  may  sweep  them  away  again  into  bondage. 

The  instrument  which  the  man-stealer  uses,  or 
perhaps  we  may  say,  the  cord,  whose  fatal  noose  will 
be  tightened  round  them,  if  they  do  not  take  care, 
is  "  philosophy  and  vain  deceit."  If  Paul  had  been 
writing  in  English,  he  would  have  put  "  philosophy  " 
in  inverted  commas,  to  show  that  he  was  quoting 


Col.  ii.  8-10.]     THE  BANE  AND   THE  ANTIDOTE,  187 

the  heretical  teachers'  own  name  for  their  system, 
if  system  it  may  be  called,  which  was  really  a  chaos. 
For  the  true  love  of  wisdom,  for  any  honest,  humble 
attempt  to  seek  after  her  as  hid  treasure,  neither 
Paul  nor  Paul's  Master  have  anything  but  praise  and 
sympathy  and  help.  Where  he  met  real,  however 
imperfect,  searchers  after  truth,  he  strove  to  find 
points  of  contact  between  them  and  his  message, 
and  to  present  the  gospel  as  the  answer  to  their 
questionings,  the  declaration  of  that  which  they 
were  groping  to  find.  The  thing  spoken  of  here  has 
no  resemblance  but  in  name  to  what  the  Greeks  in 
their  better  days  first  called  philosophy,  and  nothing 
but  that  mere  verbal  coincidence  warrants  the  re- 
presentation— often  made  both  by  narrow-minded 
Christians,  and  by  unbelieving  thinkers — that  Chris- 
tianity takes  up  a  position  of  antagonism  or  suspicion 
to  it. 

The  form  of  the  expression  in  the  original  shows 
clearly  that  "  vain  deceit,"  or  more  literally  "  empty 
deceit,"  describes  the  *' philosophy "  which  Paul  is 
bidding  them  beware  of.  They  are  not  two  things, 
but  one.  It  is  like  a  blown  bladder,  full  of  wind, 
and  nothing  else.  In  its  lofty  pretensions,  and  i" 
we  take  its  own  account  of  itself,  it  is  a  love  of  and 
search  after  wisdom ;  but  if  we  look  at  it  more  closely, 
it  is  a  swollen  nothing,  empty  and  a  fraud.  This  is 
what  he  is  condemning.  The  genuine  thing  he  has 
nothing  to  say  about  here. 

He  goes  on  to  describe  more  closely  this  im- 
postor, masquerading  in  the  philosopher's  cloak.  It 
is  "  after  the  traditions  of  men."  We  have  seen  in 
a  former  chapter  what  a  strange  heterogeneous  con- 
glomerate of  Jewish  ceremonial  and  Oriental  dreams 


iS8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

the  false  teachers  in  Colossse  were  preaching.  Pro- 
bably both  these  elements  are  included  here.  It  is 
significant  that  the  very  expression,  "the  traditions 
of  men,"  is  a  word  of  Christ's,  applied  to  the 
Pharisees,  whom  He  charges  with  "  leaving  the 
commandment  of  God,  and  holding  fast  the  tradition 
of  men"  (Mark  vii.  8).  The  portentous  undergrowth 
of  such  "  traditions  "  which,  like  the  riotous  fertility 
of  creepers  in  a  tropical  forest,  smother  and  kill  the 
trees  round  which  they  twine,  is  preserved  for  our 
wonder  and  warning  in  the  Talmud,  where  for  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  pages,  we  get  nothing  but 
Rabbi  So  and  So  said  this,  but  Rabbi  So  and  So 
said  that ;  until  we  feel  stifled,  and  long  for  one 
Divine  Word  to  still  all  the  babble. 

The  Oriental  element  in  the  heresy,  on  the  other 
hand,  prided  itself  on  a  hidden  teaching  which  was 
too  sacred  to  be  entrusted  to  books,  and  was  passed 
from  lip  to  lip  in  some  close  conclave  of  muttering 
teachers  and  listening  adepts.  The  fact  that  all  this, 
be  it  Jewish,  be  it  Oriental  teaching,  had  no  higher 
source  than  men's  imaginings  and  refinings,  seems  to 
Paul  the  condemnation  of  the  whole  system.  His 
theory  is  that  in  Jesus  Christ,  every  Christian  man 
has  the  full  truth  concerning  God  and  man,  in  their 
mutual  relations, — the  authoritative  Divine  declara- 
tion of  all  that  can  be  known,  the  perfect  exemplar 
of  all  that  ought  to  be  done,  the  sun-clear  illumination 
and  proof  of  all  that  dare  be  hoped.  What  an  absurd 
descent,  then,  from  the  highest  of  our  prerogatives, 
to  "turn  away  from  Him  that  speaketh  from  heaven," 
in  order  to  listen  to  poor  human  voices,  speaking 
men's  thoughts  ! 

The  lesson   is   as   needful   to-day  as   ever.     The 


Col.  ii.  8-10.]     THE  BANE  AND   THE  ANTIDOTE.  189 


special  forms  of  men's  traditions  in  question  here 
have  long  since  fallen  silent,  and  trouble  no  man 
any  more.  But  the  tendency  to  give  heed  to  human 
teachers  and  to  suffer  them  to  come  between  us  and 
Christ  is  deep  in  us  all.  There  is  at  one  extreme 
the  man  who  believes  in  no  revelation  from  God, 
and,  smiling  at  us  Christians  who  accept  Christ's 
words  as  final  and  Himself  as  the  Incarnate  truth, 
oftens  pays  to  his  chosen  human  teacher  a  deference 
as  absolute  as  that  which  he  regards  as  superstition, 
when  we  render  it  to  our  Lord.  At  the  other 
extremity  are  the  Christians  who  will  not  let  Christ 
and  the  Scripture  speak  to  the  soul,  unless  the 
Church  be  present  at  the  interview,  like  a  jailer,  with 
a  bunch  of  man-made  creeds  jingling  at  its  belt. 
But  it  is  not  only  at  the  two  ends  of  the  line,  but 
all  along  its  length,  that  men  are  listening  to 
"traditions"  of  men  and  neglecting  "the  command- 
ment of  God."  We  have  all  the  same  tendency  in 
us.  Every  man  carries  a  rationalist  and  a  tra- 
ditionalist under  his  skin.  Every  Church  in  Chris- 
tendom, whether  it  has  a  formal  creed  or  no,  is 
ruled  as  to  its  belief  and  practice,  to  a  sad  extent, 
by  the  "  traditions  of  the  elders.^'  The  "  freest "  of 
the  Nonconformist  Churches,  untrammelled  by  any 
formal  confession,  may  be  bound  with  as  tight 
fetters,  and  be  as  much  dominated  by  men's  opinions, 
as  if  it  had  the  straitest  of  creeds.  The  mass  of 
our  religious  beliefs  and  practices  has  ever  to  be 
verified,  corrected  and  remodelled,  by  harking  back 
from  creeds,  written  or  unwritten,  to  the  one  Teacher, 
the  endless  significance  of  Whose  person  and  work  is 
but  expressed  in  fragments  by  the  purest  and  widest 
thoughts  even  of  those  who   have  lived  nearest  to 


I90  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

Him,  and   seen  most   of   His  beauty.     Let   us  get 
away  from  men,  from  the  Babel  of  opinions  and  the 
strife  of  tongues,  that  we  may  "hear  the  words  of 
His  mouth!"      Let  us  take  heed  of  the  empty  fraud 
which  lays  the  absurd  snare  for  our  feet,  that  we  can 
learn  to  know  God  by  any  means  but  by  listening 
to  His  own  speech  in  His  Eternal  Word,  lest  it  lead 
us  away  captive  out  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Light ! 
Let  us  go  up  to  the  pure  spring  on  the  mountain 
top,  and  not  try  to  slake  our  thirst  at  the  muddy 
pools  at  its  base  !    "  Ye  are  Christ's,  be  not  the  slave 
of  men."     "  This  is  My  beloved  Son,  hear  ye  Him." 
Another  mark  of  this  empty  pretence  of  wisdom 
which  threatens  to  captivate  the  Colossians  is,  that 
it  is  "  after  the  rudiments  of  the  world."     The  word 
rendered  "rudiments"  means  the  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet,   and    hence    comes    naturally    to    acquire    the 
meaning  of  "  elements,"  or  "  first  principles,"  just  as 
Vv^e  speak  of  the  A  B  C  of  a  science.     The  applica- 
tion of  such  a  designation  to  the  false  teaching,  is, 
like  the  appropriation  of  the  term  "  mystery  "  to  the 
gospel,  an  instance  of  turning  the  tables  and  giving 
back  the  teachers  their  own  words.     They  boasted 
of  mysterious  doctrines  reserved  for  the  initiated,  of 
which  the  plain  truths  that  Paul  preached  were  but 
the  elements,  and  they  looked  down  contemptuously 
on  his  message  as  "  milk  for  babes."     Paul  retorts  on 
them,  asserting  that  the  true  mystery,  the  profound 
truth  long  hidden  and  revealed,  is  the  word  which 
he  preached,  and  that  the  poverty-stricken  elements, 
fit  only  for  infants,  are  in  that  swelling  inanity  which 
called  itself  wisdom  and  was  not.     Not  only  does 
he  brand  it  as  "rudiments,"  but  as  "rudiments  of 
the    world"    which    is    worse — that    is    to    say,    as 


Col.  ii.  8-10.]    THE  BANE  AND   THE  ANTIDOTE.  191 

belonging  to  the  sphere  of  the  outward  and  material, 
and  not  to  the  higher  region  of  the  spiritual,  where 
Christian  thought  ought  to  dwell.  So  two  weak- 
nesses are  charged  against  the  system  :  it  is  the 
mere  alphabet  of  truth,  and  therefore  unfit  for  grown 
men.  It  moves,  for  all  its  lofty  pretensions,  in  the 
region  of  the  visible  and  mundane  things  and  is 
therefore  unfit  for  spiritual  men.  What  features  of 
the  system  are  referred  to  in  this  phrase  ?  Its  use 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  (iv.  3),  as  a  synonyme 
for  the  whole  system  of  ritual  observances  and 
ceremonial  precepts  of  Judaism,  and  the  present 
context,  which  passes  on  immediately  to  speak  of 
circumcision,  point  to  a  similar  meaning  here,  though 
we  may  include  also  the  ceremonial  and  ritual  of  the 
Gentile  religions,  in  so  far  as  they  contributed  to  the 
outward  forms  which  the  Colossian  heresy  sought  to 
impose  on  the  Church.  This  then  is  Paul's  opinion 
about  a  system  which  laid  stress  on  ceremonial  and 
busied  itself  with  forms.  He  regards  it  as  a  deliber- 
ate retrogression  to  an  earlier  stage.  A  religion  of 
rites  had  come  first,  and  was  needed  for  the  spiritual 
infancy  of  the  race — but  in  Christ  we  ought  to 
have  outgrown  the  alphabet  of  revelation,  and,  being 
men,  to  have  put  away  childish  things.  He  regards 
it  further  as  a  pitiable  descent  into  a  lower  sphere, 
a  fall  from  the  spiritual  realm  to  the  material,  and 
therefore  unbecoming  for  those  who  have  been  en- 
franchised from  dependence  upon  outward  helps  and 
symbols,  and  taught  the  spirituality  and  inwardness 
of  Christian  worship. 

We  need  the  lesson  in  this  day  no  less  than  did 
these  Christians  in  the  little  community  in  that 
remote   valley  of  Phrygia.     The  forms  which  were 


192  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

ur^ed  on  them  are  long  since  antiquated,  but  the 
tendency  to  turn  Christianity  into  a  religion  of  cere- 
monial is  running  with  an  unusually  powerful  current 
to-day.  We  are  all  more  interested  in  art,  and  think 
we  know  more  about  it  than  our  fathers  did.  The 
eye  and  the  ear  are  more  educated  than  they  used 
to  be,  and  a  society  as  "  aesthetic "  and  "  musical  " 
as  much  cultured  English  society  is  becoming,  will 
like  an  ornate  ritual.  So,  apart  altogether  from 
doctrinal  grounds,  much  in  the  conditions  of  to-day 
works  towards  ritual  religion.  Nonconformist  services 
are  less  plain  ;  some  go  from  their  ranks  because 
they  dislike  the  "  bald  "  worship  In  the  chapel,  and 
prefer  the  more  elaborate  forms  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  which  in  its  turn  is  for  the  same  reason 
left  by  others  who  find  their  tastes  gratified  by 
the  complete  thing,  as  it  is  to  be  enjoyed  full  blown 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  communion.  We  may  freely 
admit  that  the  Puritan  re- action  was  possibly  too 
severe,  and  that  a  little  more  colour  and  form  might 
with  advantage  have  been  retained.  But  enlisting 
the  senses  as  the  allies  of  the  spirit  in  worship  is 
risky  work.  They  are  very  apt  to  fight  for  their 
own  hand  when  they  once  begin,  and  the  history  of 
all  symbolic  and  ceremonial  worship  shows  that  the 
experiment  is  much  more  likely  to  end  in  sensuah'sing 
religion  than  in  spiritualising  sense.  The  theory  that 
such  aids  make  a  ladder  by  which  the  soul  may 
ascend  to  God  is  perilously  apt  to  be  confuted  by 
experience,  which  finds  that  the  soul  is  quite  as 
likely  to  go  down  the  ladder  as  up  it.  The  grati- 
fication of  taste,  and  the  excitation  of  aesthetic 
sensibility,  which  are  the  results  of  such  aids  to 
worship,    are    not    worship,    however    they  may   be 


Col.ii.8-io.]     THE  BANE  AND   THE  ANTIDOTE.  193 

mistaken  as  such.  All  ceremonial  is  in  danger  of 
becoming  opaque  instead  of  transparent  as  it  was 
meant  to  be,  and  of  detaining  mind  and  eye  instead 
of  letting  them  pass  on  and  up  to  God.  Stained 
glass  is  lovely,  and  white  windows  are  "  barnlike," 
and  "  starved,"  and  "  bare "  ;  but  perhaps,  if  the 
object  is  to  get  light  and  to  see  the  sun,  these 
solemn  purples  and  glowing  yellows  are  rather  in 
the  way.  I  for  my  part  believe  that  of  the  two 
extremes,  a  Quaker's  meeting  is  nearer  the  ideal  of 
Christian  worship  than  High  Mass,  and  so  far  as 
my  feeble  voice  can  reach,  I  would  urge,  as  eminently 
a  lesson  for  the  day,  Paul's  great  principle  here,  that 
a  Christianity  making  much  of  forms  and  ceremonies 
is  a  distinct  retrogression  and  descent.  You  are 
men  in  Christ,  do  not  go  back  to  the  picture  book 
A  B  C  of  symbol  and  ceremony,  which  was  fit  for 
babes.  You  have  been  brought  in  to  the  inner 
sanctuary  of  worship  in  spirit ;  do  not  decline  to 
the  beggarly  elements  of  outward  form. 

Paul  sums  up  his  indictment  in  one  damning 
clause,  the  result  of  the  two  preceding.  If  the 
heresy  have  no  higher  source  than  men's  traditions, 
and  no  more  solid  contents  than  ceremonial  ob- 
servances, it  cannot  be  "after  Christ."  He  is 
neither  its  origin,  nor  its  substance,  nor  its  rule  and 
standard.  There  is  a  fundamental  discord  between 
every  such  system,  however  it  may  call  itself  Christian, 
and  Christ.  The  opposition  may  be  concealed  by 
its  teachers.  They  and  their  victims  may  not  be 
aware  of  it.  They  may  not  themselves  be  conscious 
that  by  adopting  it  they  have  slipped  off  the 
foundation  ;  but  they  have  done  so,  and  though 
in  their  own  hearts  they  be  ioyal  to  Him,  they  have 

13 


194  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

brought  an  incurable  discord  into  their  creeds  which 
will  weaken  their  lives,  if  it  do  not  do  worse.  Paul 
cared  very  little  for  the  dreams  of  these  teachers, 
except  in  so  far  as  they  carried  them  and  others 
away  from  his  Master.  The  Colossians  might 
have  as  many  ceremonies  as  they  liked,  and  wel- 
come ;  but  when  these  interfered  with  the  sole 
reliance  to  be  placed  on  Christ's  work,  then  they 
must  have  no  quarter.  It  is  not  merely  because 
the  teaching  was  "  after  the  traditions  of  men,  after 
the  rudiments  of  the  world,"  but  because  being  so, 
it  was  "  not  after  Christ,"  that  Paul  will  have  none 
of  it.  He  that  touches  his  Master  touches  the 
apple  of  his  eye,  and  shades  of  opinion,  and  things 
indifferent  in  practice,  and  otherwise  unimportant 
forms  of  worship,  have  to  be  fought  to  the  death  if 
they  obscure  one  corner  of  the  perfect  and  solitary 
work  of  the  One  Lord,  who  is  at  once  the  source, 
the  substance,  and  the  standard  of  all  Christian 
teaching. 

II.  The  Antidote. — "For  in  Him  dwelleth  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  and  in  Him  ye  are 
made  full,  who  is  the  head  of  all  principality  and 
power." 

These  words  may  be  a  reason  for  the  warning 
— "  Take  heed, /<?r" ;  or  they  may  be  a  reason  for  the 
implied  exclusion  of  any  teaching  which  is  not  after 
Christ.  The  statement  of  its  characteristics  carries 
in  itself  its  condemnation.  Anything  "  not  after 
Christ  "  is  ipso  facto  wrong,  and  to  be  avoided — "  for," 
etc.  "  In  Him"  is  placed  with  emphasis  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  implies  "  and  nowhere  else."  "  Dwelleth," 
that  is,  has  its  permanent  abode  ;  where  the  tense 
is  to  be  noticed  also,  as  pointing  to  the  ascended 


Col.ii.8-io.]     THE  BANE  AND   THE  ANTIDOTE,  195 

Christ.  "  All  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,"  that  is, 
the  whole  unbounded  powers  and  attributes  of  Deity, 
where  is  to  be  noted  the  use  of  the  abstract  term 
Godhead^  instead  of  the  more  usual  God^  in  order  to 
express  with  the  utmost  force  the  thought  of  the 
indwelling  in  Christ  of  the  whole  essence  and  nature 
of  God.  "  Bodily,"  that  points  to  the  Incarnation, 
and  so  is  an  advance  upon  the  passage  in  the  former 
chapter  (ver.  19),  which  speaks  of  "the  fulness" 
dwelling  in  the  Eternal  Word,  whereas  this  speaks 
of  the  Eternal  Word  in  whom  the  fulness  dwelt  be- 
coming flesh.  So  we  are  pointed  to  the  glorified 
corporeal  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  in  His  exaltation 
as  the  abode,  now  and  for  ever,  of  all  the  fulness  of  the 
Divine  nature,  which  is  thereby  brought  very  near 
to  us.  This  grand  truth  seems  to  Paul  to  shiver  to 
pieces  all  the  dreams  of  these  teachers  about  angel 
mediators,  and  to  brand  as  folly  every  attempt  to 
learn  truth  and  God  anywhere  else  but  in  Him. 

If  He  be  the  one  sole  temple  of  Deity  in  whom 
all  Divine  glories  are  stored,  why  go  anywhere  else 
in  order  to  see  or  to  possess  God  }  It  is  folly  ;  for 
not  only  are  all  these  glories  stored  in  Him,  but 
they  are  so  stored  on  purpose  to  be  reached  by  us. 
Therefore  the  Apostle  goes  on,  "  and  in  Him  ye  are 
made  full ; "  which  sets  forth  two  things  as  true  in 
the  inward  life  of  all  Christians,  namely,  their  living 
incorporation  in  and  union  with  Christ,  and  their 
consequent  participation  in  His  fulness.  Every  one 
of  us  may  enter  into  that  most  real  and  close  union 
with  Jesus  Christ  by  the  power  of  continuous  faith 
in  Him.  So  may  we  be  grafted  into  the  Vine,  and 
builded  into  the  Rock.  If  thus  we  keep  our  hearts 
in  contact  with  His  heart  and  let  Him  lay  His  lip 


196  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS, 

on  our  lips,  He  will  breathe  into  us  the  breath  of 
His  own  life,  and  we  shall  live  because  He  lives,  and 
in  our  measure,  as  He  lives.  y\ll  the  fulness  of  God 
is  in  Him,  that  from  Him  it  may  pass  into  us.  We 
might  start  back  from  such  bold  words  if  we  did  not 
remember  that  the  same  apostle  who  here  tells  us 
that  that  fulness  dwells  in  Jesus,  crowns  his  wonder- 
ful prayer  for  the  Ephesian  Christians  with  that 
daring  petition,  "  that  ye  may  be  filled  with  all  the 
fulness  of  God."  The  treasure  was  lodged  in  the 
earthen  vessel  of  Christ's  manhood  that  it  might  be 
within  our  reach.  He  brings  the  fiery  blessing  of  a 
Divine  life  from  Heaven  to  earth  enclosed  in  the 
feeble  reed  of  His  manhood,  that  it  may  kindle 
kindred  fire  in  many  a  heart.  Freely  the  water  of 
life  flows  into  all  cisterns  from  the  ever  fresh  stream, 
into  which  the  infinite  depth  of  that  unfathomable 
sea  of  good  pours  itself.  Every  kind  of  spiritual 
blessing  is  given  therein.  That  stream,  like  a  river 
of  molten  lava,  holds  many  precious  things  in  its 
flaming  current,  and  will  cool  into  many  shapes 
and  deposit  many  rare  and  rich  gifts.  Accord- 
ing to  our  need  it  will  vary  itself,  being  to  each 
what  the  moment  most  requires, — wisdom,  or 
strength,  or  beauty,  or  courage,  or  patience.  Out  of 
it  will  come  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatso- 
ever things  are  of  good  report,  as  Rabbinical  legends 
tell  us  that  the  manna  tasted  to  each  man  like  the 
food  for  which  he  wished  most. 

This  process  of  receiving  of  all  the  Divine  fulness 
is  a  continuous  one.  We  can  but  be  approximating 
to  the  possession  of  the  infinite  treasure  which  is 
ours  in  Christ ;  and  since  the  treasure  is  infinite,  and 
we  can    indefinitely  grow  in   capacity  of  receiving 


Col. ii. 8-10.]     THE  BAME  AND   THE  ANTIDOTE.  197 

God,  there  must  be  an  eternal  continuance  of  the 
fining  and  an  eternal  increase  of  the  measure  of 
what  fills  us.  Our  natures  are  elastic,  and  in  love 
and  knowledge,  as  well  as  in  purity  and  capacity  for 
blessedness,  there  are  no  bounds  to  be  set  to  their 
possible  expansion.  They  will  be  widened  by  bliss 
into  a  greater  capacity  for  bliss.  The  indwelling 
Christ  will  "enlarge  the  place  of  His  habitation," 
and  as  the  walls  stretch  and  the  roofs  soar,  He  will 
fill  the  greater  house  with  the  light  of  His  presence 
and  the  fragrance  of  His  name.  The  condition  of 
this  continuous  reception  of  the  abundant  gift  of  a 
Divine  life  is  abiding  in  Jesus.  It  is  "in  Him"  that 
we  are  "  being  filled  full  " — and  it  is  only  so  long 
as  we  continue  in  Him  that  we  continue  full.  We 
cannot  bear  away  our  supplies,  as  one  might  a  full 
bucket  from  a  well,  and  keep  it  full.  All  the  grace 
will  trickfe  out  and  disappear  unless  we  live  in 
constant  union  with  our  Lord,  whose  Spirit  passes 
into  our  deadness  only  so  long  as  we  are  joined 
to  Him, 

From  all  such  thoughts  Paul  would  have  us  draw 
the  conclusion — how  foolish,  then,  it  must  be  to  go 
to  any  other  source  for  the  supply  of  our  needs  ! 
Christ  is  "  the  head  of  all  principality  and  power," 
he  adds,  with  a  reference  to  the  doctrine  of  angel 
mediators,  which  evidently  played  a  great  part  in 
the  heretical  teaching.  If  He  is  sovereign  head  of 
all  dignity  and  p.ower  on  earth  and  heaven,  why  go 
to  the  ministers,  when  we  have  access  to  the  King  ; 
or  have  recourse  to  erring  human  teachers,  when  we 
have  the  Eternal  Word  to  enlighten  us  ;  or  flee  to 
creatures  to  replenish  our  emptiness,  when  we  may 
draw  from  the  depths  of  God  in  Christ  }    Why  should 


198  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

we  go  on  a  weary  search  after  goodly  pearls  when  the 
richest  of  all  is  by  us,  if  we  will  have  it  ?  Do  we  seek 
to  know  God  ?  Let  us  behold  Christ,  and  let  men  talk 
as  they  list.  Do  we  crave  a  stay  for  our  spirit,  guid- 
ance and  impulse  for  our  lives  ?  Let  us  cleave  to 
Christ,  and  we  shall  be  no  more  lonely  and  bewildered. 
Do  we  need  a  quieting  balm  to  be  laid  on  conscience, 
and  the  sense  of  guilt  to  be  lifted  from  our  hearts  ? 
Let  us  lay  our  hands  on  Christ,  the  one  sacrifice, 
and  leave  all  other  altars  and  priests  and  ceremonies. 
Do  we  look  longingly  for  some  light  on  the  future? 
Let  us  stedfastly  gaze  on  Christ  as  He  rises  to 
heaven  bearing  a  human  body  into  the  glory  of  God. 
Though  all  the  earth  were  covered  with  helpers 
and  lovers  of  my  soul,  "as  the  sand  by  the  sea 
shore  innumerable,"  and  all  the  heavens  were  sown 
with  faces  of  angels  who  cared  for  me  and  succoured 
me,  thick  as  the  stars  in  the  milky  way— all  could 
not  do  for  me  what  I  need.  Yea,  though  all  these 
were  gathered  into  one  mighty  and  loving  creature, 
even  he  were  no  sufficient  stay  for  one  soul  of  man. 
We  want  more  than  creature  help.  We  need  the 
whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead  to  draw  from.  It  is 
all  there  in  Christ,  for  each  of  us.  Whosoever  will, 
let  him  draw  freely.  Why  should  we  leave  the 
fountain  of  living  waters  to  hew  out  for  ourselves, 
with  infinite  pains,  broken  cisterns  that  can  hold  no 
water  ?  All  we  need  is  in  Christ.  Let  us  lift  our 
eyes  from  the  low  earth  and  all  creatures,  and  behold 
"  no  man  any  more,"  as  Lord  and  Helper,  "  save 
Jesus  only,"  "that  we  may  be  filled  with  all  the 
fulness  of  God.* 


XIII. 

THE    TRUE    CTRCUMCISTOir. 

"  In  whom  ye  were  also  circumcised  with  a  circumcision  not  made 
with  hands,  in  the  putting  off  of  the  body  of  the  flesh,  in  the  circum- 
cision of  Christ  ;  having  been  buried  with  Him  in  baptism,  wherein  ye 
were  also  raised  with  Him  through  faith  in  the  working  of  God,  who 
raised  Him  from  the  dead.  And  you,  being  dead  through  your  tres- 
passes and  the  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh,  you,  I  say,  did  he  quicken 
together  with  Him,  having  forgiven  us  all  our  trespasses." — CoL.  ii. 
11-13  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THERE  are  two  opposite  tendencies  ever  at 
work  in  human  nature  to  corrupt  religion. 
One  is  of  the  intellect ;  the  other  of  the  senses. 
The  one  is  the  temptation  of  the  cultured  few  ;  the 
other,  that  of  the  vulgar  many.  The  one  turns  re- 
ligion into  theological  speculation  ;  the  other,  into  a 
theatrical  spectacle.  But,  opposite  as  these  ten- 
dencies usually  are,  they  were  united  in  that  strange 
chaos  of  erroneous  opinion  and  practice  which  Paul 
had  to  front  at  Colossse.  From  right  and  from  left 
he  was  assailed,  and  his  batteries  had  to  face  both 
ways.  Here  he  is  mainly  engaged  with  the  error 
which  insisted  on  imposing  circumcision  on  these 
Gentile  converts. 

I.  To  this  teaching  of  the  necessity  of  circum- 
cision, he  first  opposes  the  position  that  all  Christian 
men,  by  virtue  of  their  union  with  Christ,  have  re- 
ceived the  true  circumcision,  of  which  the  outward 


20O  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

rite  was  a  shadow  and  a  prophecy,  and  that  there- 
fore the  rite  is  antiquated  and  obsolete. 

His  language  is  emphatic  and  remarkable.  It 
points  to  a  definite  past  time — no  doubt  the  time 
when  they  became  Christians — when,  because  they 
were  in  Christ,  a  change  passed  on  them  which  is 
fitly  paralleled  with  circumcision.  This  Christian 
circumcision  is  described  in  three  particulars  :  as 
"not  made  with  hands;"  as  consisting  in  "putting 
off  the  body  of  the  flesh  ;  "  and  as  being  "  of  Christ." 

It  is  "  not  made  with  hands,"  that  is,  it  is  not  a 
rite  but  a  reality,  not  transacted  in  flesh  but  in  spirit. 
It  is  not  the  removal  of  ceremonial  impurity,  but 
the  cleansing  of  the  heart.  This  idea  of  ethical 
circumcision,  of  which  the  bodily  rite  is  the  type, 
is  common  in  the  Old  Testament,  as,  for  instance, 
"  The  Lord  thy  God  will  circumcise  thine  heart  .  .  . 
to  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart" 
(Deut.  XXX.  6).  This  is  the  true  Christian  circum- 
cision. 

It  consists  in  the  "putting  off  the  body  of  the 
flesh" — for  "the  sins  of"  is  an  interpolation.  Of 
course  a  man  does  not  shuffle  off  this  mortal  coil 
when  he  becomes  a  Christian,  so  that  we  have  to 
look  for  some  other  meaning  of  the  strong  words. 
They  are  very  strong,  for  the  word  "putting  off"  is 
intensified  so  as  to  express  a  complete  stripping  off 
from  oneself,  as  of  clothes  which  are  laid  aside,  and 
is  evidently  intended  to  contrast  the  partial  outward 
circumcision  as  the  removal  of  a  small  part  of  the 
body,  with  the  entire  removal  effected  by  union  with 
Christ.  If  that  removal  of  "  the  body  of  the  flesh  " 
is  "  not  made  with  hands,"  then  it  can  only  be  in  the 
sphere  of  the  spiritual  life,  that  is  to  say,  it   must 


Col.ii.  II-I3.]       THE   TRUE   CIRCU^TCISTON.  201 

consist  in  a  change  in  the  relation  of  the  two  con- 
stituents of  a  man's  being,  and  that  of  such  a  kind 
that,  for  the  future,  the  Christian  shall  not  live  after 
the  flesh,  though  he  live  in  the  flesh.  "Ye  are  not 
in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit,"  says  Paul,  and  again 
he  uses  an  expression  as  strong  as,  if  not  stronger 
than  that  of  our  text,  when  he  speaks  of  "  the  body  " 
as  "  being  destroyed,"  and  explains  himself  by 
adding  "that  henceforth  we  should  not  serve  sin." 
It  is  not  the  body  considered  simply  as  material  and 
fleshly  that  we  put  off,  but  the  body  considered  as 
the  seat  of  corrupt  and  sinful  affections  and  passions. 
A  new  principle  of  life  comes  into  men's  hearts 
which  delivers  them  from  the  dominion  of  these,  and 
makes  it  possible  that  they  should  live  in  the  flesh, 
not  "  according  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God."  True,  the  text  regards  this 
divesting  as  complete,  whereas,  as  all  Christian  men 
know  only  too  sadly,  it  is  very  partial,  and  realised 
only  by  slow  degrees.  The  ideal  is  represented 
here, — what  we  receive  "  in  Him,"  rather  than  what 
we  actually  possess  and  incorporate  into  our  expe- 
rience. On  the  Divine  side  the  change  is  complete. 
Christ  gives  complete  emancipation  from  the  do- 
minion of  sense,  and  if  we  are  not  in  reality  com- 
pletely emancipated,  it  is  because  we  have  not  taken 
the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us,  and  are  not 
completely  "2/2  Him."  So  far  as  we  are,  we  have 
put  off  "  the  flesh."  The  change  has  passed  on  us  if 
we  are  Christians.  We  have  to  work  it  out  day  by 
day.  The  foe  may  keep  up  a  guerilla  warfare  after 
he  is  substantially  defeated,  but  his  entire  subjugation 
is  certain  if  we  keep  hold  of  the  strength  of  Christ. 
Finally,    this    circumcision    is    described    as    "  of 


202  THE  EFISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

Christ,"  by  which  is  not  meant  that  He  submitted  to 
it,  but  that   He  instituted  it. 

Such  being  the  force  of  this  statement,  what  is 
its  bearing  on  the  Apostle's  purpose  ?  He  desires 
to  destroy  the  teaching  that  the  rite  of  circumcision 
was  binding  on  the  Christian  converts,  and  he  does  so 
by  asserting  that  the  gospel  has  brought  the  reality, 
of  which  the  rite  was  but  a  picture  and  a  prophecy. 
The  underlying  principle  is  that  when  we  have  the 
thing  signified  by  any  Jewish  rites,  which  were  all 
prophetic  as  well  as  symbolic,  the  rite  may — must 
go.  Its  retention  is  an  anachronism,  "  as  if  a  flower 
should  shut,  and  be  a  bud  again."  That  is  a  wise 
and  pregnant  principle,  but  as  it  comes  to  the  sur- 
face again  immediately  hereafter,  and  is  applied  to  a 
whole  series  of  subjects,  we  may  defer  the  considera- 
tion of  it,  and  rather  dwell  briefly  on  other  matters 
suggested  by  this  verse. 

We  notice,  then,  the  intense  moral  earnestness 
which  leads  the  Apostle  here  to  put  the  true  centre 
of  gravity  of  Christianity  in  moral  transformation, 
and  to  set  all  outward  rites  and  ceremonies  in  a 
very  subordinate  place.  What  had  Jesus  Christ 
come  from  heaven  for,  and  for  what  had  He  borne 
His  bitter  passion  ?  To  what  end  were  the  Colos- 
sians  knit  to  Him  by  a  tie  so  strong,  tender  and 
strange  }  Had  they  been  carried  into  that  inmost 
depth  of  union  with  Him,  and  were  they  still  to  be 
laying  stress  on  ceremonies  ?  Had  Christ's  work, 
then,  no  higher  issue  than  to  leave  religion  bound  in 
the  cords  of  outward  observances .?  Surely  Jesus 
Christ,  who  gives  men  a  new  life  by  union  with 
Himself,  which  union  is  brought  about  through  faith 
alone,  has  delivered  men  from  that  "yoke  of  bond- 


Col.ii.  II-I3.]       THE   TRUE   CIRCUMCISION.  203 

age,"  if  He  has  done  anything  at  all.  Surely  they 
who  are  joined  to  Him  should  have  a  profounder 
apprehension  of  the  means  and  the  end  of  their  re- 
lation to  their  Lord  than  to  suppose  that  it  is  either 
brought  about  by  any  outward  rite,  or  has  any 
reality  unless  it  makes  them  pure  and  good.  From 
that  height  all  questions  of  external  observances 
dwindle  into  insignificance,  and  all  question  of  sacra- 
mental efficacy  drops  away  of  itself.  The  vital 
centre  lies  in  our  being  joined  to  Jesus  Christ — the 
condition  of  which  is  faith  in  Him,  and  the  outcome 
of  it  a  new  life  which  delivers  us  from  the  dominion 
of  the  flesh.  How  far  away  from  such  conceptions 
of  Christianity  are  those  which  busy  themselves  on 
either  side  with  matters  of  detail,  with  punctilios  of 
observance,  and  pedantries  of  form  ?  The  hatred  of 
forms  may  be  as  completely  a  form  as  the  most 
elaborate  ritual — and  we  all  need  to  have  our  eyes 
turned  away  from  these  to  the  far  higher  thing,  the 
worship  and  service  offered  by  a  transformed  nature. 

We  notice  again,  that  the  conquest  of  the  animal 
nature  and  the  material  body  is  the  certain  outcome 
of  true  union  with  Christ,  and  of  that  alone. 

Paul  did  not  regard  matter  as  necessarily  evil,  as 
these  teachers  at  Colossae  did,  nor  did  he  think  of 
the  body  as  the  source  of  all  sin.  But  he  knew  that 
the  fiercest  and  most  fiery  temptations  came  from 
it,  and  that  the  foulest  and  most  indelible  stains  on 
conscience  were  splashed  from  the  mud  which  it 
threw.  We  all  know  that  too.  It  is  a  matter  of 
life  and  death  for  each  of  us  to  find  some  means  of 
taming  and  holding  in  the  animal  that  is  in  us  all. 
We  all  know  of  wrecked  lives,  which  have  been  driven 
en  the  rocks  by  the  wild  passions   belonging  to  the 


204  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

flesh.  Fortune,  reputation,  health,  everything  are 
sacrificed  by  hundreds  of  men,  especially  young  men, 
at  the  sting  of  this  imperious  lust.  The  budding 
promise  of  youth,  innocence,  hope,  and  all  which 
makes  life  desirable  and  a  nature  fair,  are  trodden 
down  by  the  hoofs  of  the  brute.  There  is  no  need 
to  speak  of  that.  And  when  we  come  to  add  to 
this  the  weaknesses  of  the  flesh,  and  the  needs  of  the 
flesh,  and  the  limitations  of  the  flesh,  and  to  re- 
member how  often  high  purposes  are  frustrated  by 
its  shrinking  from  toil,  and  how  often  mists  born 
from  its  undrained  swamps  darken  the  vision  that 
else  might  gaze  on  truth  and  God,  we  cannot  but 
feel  that  we  do  not  need  to  be  Eastern  Gnostics,  to 
believe  that  goodness  requires  the  flesh  to  be  sub- 
dued. Every  one  who  has  sought  for  self-improve- 
ment recognises  the  necessity.  But  no  asceticisms 
and  no  resolves  will  do  what  we  want.  Much  re- 
pression may  be  effected  by  sheer  force  of  will,  but 
it  is  like  a  man  holding  a  wolf  by  the  jaws.  The 
arms  begin  to  ache  and  the  grip  to  grow  slack,  and 
he  feels  his  strength  ebbing,  and  knows  that,  as  soon 
as  he  lets  go,  the  brute  will  fly  at  his  throat.  Re- 
pression is  not  taming.  Nothing  tames  the  wild 
beast  in  us  but  the  power  of  Christ.  He  binds  it  in 
a  silken  lash,  and  that  gentle  constraint  is  strong, 
because  the  fierceness  is  gone.  "  The  wolf  also  shall 
dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead 
them.*'  The  power  of  union  with  Christ,  and  that 
alone,  will  enable  us  to  put  oft"  the  body  of  the  flesh. 
And  such  union  will  certainly  lead  to  such  cruci- 
fying of  the  animal  nature.  Christianity  would  be 
easy  if  it  were  a  round  of  observances  ;  it  would  be 
comparatively  easy  if   it  were  a  series  of   outward 


Co:,ii.ii-i3.]       THE   TRUE  CIRCUMCISION.  205 

asceticisms.  Anybody  can  fast  or  wear  a  hair  shirt, 
if  he  have  motive  sufficient;  but  the  "putting  off 
the  body  of  the  flesh  "  which  is  "  not  made  with 
hands,"  is  a  different  and  harder  thing.  Nothing 
else  avails.  High-flown  religious  emotion,  or  clear 
theological  definitions,  or  elaborate  ceremonial  wor- 
ship, may  all  have  their  value ;  but  a  religion  which 
includes  them  all,  and  leaves  out  the  plain  moralities 
of  subduing  the  flesh,  and  keeping  our  heel  well 
pressed  down  on  the  serpent's  head,  is  worthless.  If 
we  are  in  Christ,  we  shall  not  live  in  the  flesh. 

II.  The  Apostle  meets  the  false  teaching  of  the 
need  for  circumcision,  by  a  second  consideration  ; 
namely,  a  reference  to  Christian  Baptism,  as  being 
the  Christian  sign  of  that  inward  change. 

Ye  were  circumcised,  says  he — -being  buried  with 
Him  in  baptism.  The  form  of  expression  in  the 
Greek  implies  that  the  two  things  are  cotempora- 
neous.  As  if  he  had  said — Do  you  want  any 
further  rite  to  express  that  mighty  change  which 
passed  on  you  when  you  came  to  be  "  in  Christ "  ? 
You  have  been  baptised,  does  not  that  express  all 
the  meaning  that  circumcision  ever  had,  and  much 
more  ?  What  can  you  want  with  the  less  signifi- 
cant rite  when  you  have  the  more  significant .?  This 
reference  to  baptism  is  quite  consistent  with  what 
has  been  said  as  to  the  subordinate  importance  of 
ritual.  Some  forms  we  must  have,  if  there  is  to  be 
any  outward  visible  Church,  and  Christ  has  yielded 
to  the  necessity,  and  given  us  two,  of  which  the  one 
symbolises  the  initial  spiritual  act  of  the  Christian 
life,  and  the  other  the  constantly  repeated  process  of 
Christian  nourishment.  They  are  symbols  and  out- 
ward representations,  nothing  more.      They  convey 


2o6  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSIANS, 

grace,  in  so  far  as  they  help  us  to  realise  more 
clearly  and  to  feel  more  deeply  the  facts  on  which 
our  spiritual  life  is  fed,  but  they  are  not  channels  of 
grace  in  any  other  way  than  any  other  outward  acts 
of  worship  may  be. 

We  see  that  the  form  of  baptism  here  pre-sup- 
posed  is  by  immersion,  and  that  the  form  is  regarded 
as  significant.  All  but  entire  unanimity  prevails 
among  commentators  on  this  point.  The  burial  and 
the  resurrection  spoken  of  point  unmistakably  to  the 
primitive  mode  of  baptism,  as  Bishop  Lightfoot,  the 
latest  and  best  English  expositor  of  this  book,  puts 
it  in  his  paraphrase  :  "  Ye  were  buried  with  Christ  to 
your  old  selves  beneath  the  baptismal  waters,  and 
were  raised  with  Him  from  these  same  waters,  to  a 
new  and  better  life." 

If  so,  two  questions  deserve  consideration — first, 
is  it  right  to  alter  a  form  which  has  a  meaning  that 
is  lost  by  the  change  ?  second,  can  we  alter  a  signi- 
ficant form  without  destroying  it }  Is  the  new 
thing  rightly  called  by  the  old  name  }  If  baptism 
be  immersion,  and  immersion  express  a  substantial 
part  of  its  meaning,  can  sprinkling  or  pouring  be 
baptism } 

Again,  baptism  is  associated  in  time  with  the  in- 
ward change,  which  is  the  true  circumcision.  There 
are  but  two  theories  on  which  these  two  things  are 
cotemporaneous.  The  one  is  the  theory  that  baptism 
effects  the  change,  the  other  is  the  theory  that 
baptism  goes  with  the  change  as  its  sign.  The 
association  is  justified  if  men  are  "  circumcised,"  that 
is,  changed  when  they  are  baptised,  or  if  men  are 
baptised  when  they  have  been  "  circumcised."  No 
other  theory  gives  full  weight  to  these  words. 


Col.  ii.  11-13.^      THE   TRUE   CIRCUMCISION.  207 


The  former  theory  elevates  baptism  int.!)  more 
than  the  importance  of  which  Paul  sought  to  deprive 
circumcision,  it  confuses  the  distinction  between  the 
Church  and  the  world,  it  lulls  men  into  a  false 
security,  it  obscures  the  very  central  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity— namely  that  faith  in  Christ,  working  by  love, 
makes  a  Christian — it  gives  the  basis  for  a  porten- 
tous reproduction  of  sacerdotalism,  and  it  is  shivered 
to  pieces  against  the  plain  facts  of  daily  life.  But  it 
may  be  worth  while  to  notice  in  a  sentence,  that  it 
is  conclusively  disposed  of  by  the  language  before 
us — it  is  "  through  faith  in  the  operation  of  God  " 
that  we  are  raised  again  in  baptism.  Not  the  rite, 
then,  but  faith  is  the  means  of  this  participation 
with  Christ  in  burial  and  resurrection.  What  re- 
mains but  that  baptism  is  associated  with  that 
spiritual  change  by  which  we  are  delivered  from  the 
body  of  the  flesh,  because  in  the  Divine  order  it  is 
meant  to  be  the  outward  symbol  of  that  change 
which  is  effected  by  no  rite  or  sacrament,  but  by 
faith  alone,  uniting  us  to  the  transforming  Christ } 

We  observe  the  solemnity  and  the  thoroughness  of 
the  change  thus  symbolised.  It  is  more  than  a  cir- 
cumcision. It  is  burial  and  a  resurrection,  an  entire 
dying  of  the  old  self  by  union  with  Christ,  a  real  and 
present  rising  again  by  participation  in  His  risen  life. 
This  and  nothing  less  makes  a  Christian.  We  par- 
take of  His  death,  inasmuch  as  we  ally  ourselves  to 
it  by  our  faith,  as  the  sacrifice  for  our  sins,  and  make 
it  the  ground  of  all  our  hope.  But  that  is  not  all. 
We  partake  of  His  death,  inasmuch  as,  by  the  power 
of  His  cross,  we  are  drawn  to  sever  ourselves  from 
the  selfish  life,  and  to  slay  our  own  old  nature  ;  dying 
for  His  dear  sake  to  the  habits,  tastes,  desires  and 


2c8  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS, 

purposes  in  which  we  lived.  Self-crucifixion  for  the 
love  of  Christ  is  the  law  for  us  all.  His  cross  is  the 
pattern  for  our  conduct,  as  well  as  the  pledge  and 
means  of  our  acceptance.  We  must  die  to  sin  that 
we  may  live  to  righteousness.  We  must  die  to  self, 
that  we  may  live  to  God  and  our  brethren.  We  have 
no  right  to  trust  in  Christ  for  us,  except  as  we  have 
Christ  171  us.  His  cross  is  not  saving  us  from  our  guilt 
unless  it  is  moulding  our  lives  to  some  faint  Hkeness 
of  Him  who  died  that  we  might  live,  and  might  live 
a  real  life  by  dying  daily  to  the  world,  sin,  and 
self. 

If  we  are  thus  made  conformable  to  His  death,  we 
shall  know  the  power  of  His  resurrection,  in  all  its 
aspects.  It  will  be  to  us  the  guarantee  of  our  own, 
and  we  shall  know  its  power  as  a  prophecy  for  our 
future.  It  will  be  to  us  the  seal  of  His  perfect  work 
on  the  cross,  and  we  shall  know  its  power  as  God's 
token  of  acceptance  of  His  sacrifice  in  the  past.  It 
will  be  to  us  the  type  of  our  spiritual  resurrection 
now,  and  we  shall  know  its  power  as  the  pattern  and 
source  of  our  supernatural  life  in  the  present.  Thus 
we  must  die  in  and  with  Christ  that  we  may  live  in 
and  with  Him,  and  that  twofold  process  is  the  very 
eart  of  personal  religion.     No  lofty  participation  in 

",  immortal  hopes  which  spring  from  the  empty 
.^  ^ve  of  Jesus  is  warranted,  unless  we  have  His 
quickening  power  raising  us  to-day  by  a  better  resur- 
rection ;  and  no  participation  in  the  present  power 
of  His  heavenly  life  is  possible,  unless  we  have  such 
a  share  in  His  death,  as  that  by  it  the  world  is 
crucified  to  us,  and  we  unto  the  world. 

III.  The  Apostle  adds  another  phase  of  this  great 
contrast  of  life  and  death,  which  brings  home  still 


Col. ii.  11-13]        THE   TRUE  CIRCUMCISION.  209 

more  closely  to  his  hearers,  the  deep  and  radical 
change  which  passes  upon  all  Christians.  He  has 
been  speaking  of  a  death  and  burial  followed  by  a 
resurrection.  But  there  is  another  death  from  which 
Christ  raises  us,  by  that  same  risen  life  imparted 
to  us  through  faith — a  darker  and  grimmer  thing 
than  the  self-abnegation  before  described. 

"And  you,  being  dead  through  your  trespasses, 
and  the  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh."  The  separate 
acts  of  transgression  of  which  they  had  been  guilty, 
and  the  unchastened,  unpurified,  carnal  nature  from 
which  these  had  flowed,  were  the  reasons  of  a  very 
real  and  awful  death  ;  or,  as  the  parallel  passage  in 
Ephesians  (ii.  2)  puts  it  with  a  slight  variation,  they 
made  the  condition  or  sphere  in  which  that  death 
inhered.  That  solemn  thought,  so  pregnant  in  its 
dread  emphasis  in  Scripture,  is  not  to  be  put  aside  as 
a  mere  metaphor.  All  life  stands  in  union  with 
God.  The  physical  universe  exists  by  reason  of  its 
perpetual  contact  with  His  sustaining  hand,  in  the 
hollow  of  which  all  Being  lies,  and  it  is,  because  He 
touches  it.  "In  Him  we  live."  So  also  the  life  of 
mind  is  sustained  by  His  perpetual  inbreathing,  and 
in  the  deepest  sense  "  we  see  light "  in  His  light. 
So,  lastly,  the  highest  life  of  the  spirit  stands  in  union 
in  still  higher  manner  with  Him,  and  to  be  separated 
from  Him  is  death  to  it.  Sin  breaks  that  union,  and 
therefore  sin  is  death,  in  the  very  inmost  centre  of 
man's  being.  The  awful  warning,  "  In  the  day  thou 
eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  was  fulfilled. 
That  separation  by  sin,  in  which  the  soul  is  wrenched 
from  God,  is  the  real  death,  and  the  thing  that  men 
call  by  the  name  is  only  an  outward  symbol  of  a  far 
sadder  fact — the  shadow  of  that  which  is  the  awful 

r4 


2IO  THE  EPISTLE   TO   7 BE   COLOSSIANS, 

substance,  and  as  much  less  terrible  than  it  as  painted 
fires  are  less  than  the  burning  reality. 

So  men  may  live  in  the  body,  and  toil  and  think 
and  feel,  and  be  dead.  The  world  is  full  of  "  sheeted 
dead,"  that  "squeak  and  gibber"  in  "our  streets," 
for  every  soul  that  lives  to  self  and  has  rent  itself 
away  from  God,  so  far  as  a  creature  can,  is  "dead 
while  he  liveth."  The  other  death,  of  which  the 
previous  verse  spoke,  is  therefore  but  the  putting  off 
of  a  death.  We  lose  nothing  of  real  life  in  putting  off 
self,  but  only  that  which  keeps  us  in  a  separation  from 
God,  and  slays  our  true  and  highest  being.  To  die 
to  self  is  but  "  the  death  of  death." 

The  same  life  of  which  the  previous  verse  spoke 
as  coming  from  the  risen  Lord  is  here  set  forth  as 
able  to  raise  us  from  that  death  of  sin.  "  He  hath 
quickened  you  together  with  Him."  Union  with 
Christ  floods  our  dead  souls  with  His  own  vitality, 
as  water  will  pour  from  a  reservoir  through  a  tube 
inserted  in  it.  There  is  the  actual  communication 
of  a  new  life  when  we  touch  Christ  by  faith.  The 
prophet  of  old  laid  himself  upon  the  dead  child,  the 
warm  lip  on  the  pallid  mouth,  the  throbbing  heart 
on  the  still  one,  and  the  contact  rekindled  the  ex- 
tinguished spark.  So  Christ  lays  His  full  life  on 
our  deadness,  and  does  more  than  recall  a  departed 
glow  of  vitality.  He  communicates  a  new  life  kin- 
dred with  His  own.  That  life  makes  us  free  here 
and  now  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death,  and  it  shall 
be  perfected  hereafter  when  the  working  of  His 
mighty  power  shall  change  the  body  of  our  humilia- 
tion into  the  likeness  of  the  body  of  His  glory,  and 
the  leaven  of  His  new  life  shall  leaven  the  three 
measures  in  which  it  is  hidden,  body,  soul,  and  spirit, 


Col.  ii.  11-13.]       THE   TRUE  CIRCUMCISION,  211 

with  its  own  transforming  energy.  Then,  in  yet 
higher  sense,  death  shall  die,  and  life  shall  be  victor 
by  His  victory. 

But  to  all  this  one  preliminary  is  needful — "  having 
forgiven  us  all  trespasses."  Paul's  eagerness  to  asso- 
ciate himself  with  his  brethren,  and  to  claim  his 
share  in  the  forgiveness,  as  well  as  to  unite  in  the 
acknowledgment  of  sin,  makes  him  change  his  word 
from  "  you  "  to  "  us."  So  the  best  manuscripts  give 
the  text,  and  the  reading  is  obviously  full  of  interest 
and  suggestiveness.  There  must  be  a  removal  of  the 
cause  of  deadness  before  there  can  be  a  quickening 
to  new  life.  That  cause  was  sin,  which  cannot  be 
cancelled  as  guilt  by  any  self-denial  however  great, 
nor  even  by  the  impartation  of  a  new  life  from  God 
for  the  future.  A  gospel  which  only  enjoined  dying 
to  self  would  be  as  inadequate  as  a  gospel  which  only 
provided  for  a  higher  life  in  the  future.  The  stained 
and  faultful  past  must  be  cared  for.  Christ  must 
bring  pardon  for  it,  as  well  as  a  new  spirit  for 
the  future.  So  the  condition  prior  to  our  being 
quickened  together  with  Him  is  God's  forgiveness, 
free  and  universal,  covering  all  our  sins,  and  given  to 
us  without  anything  on  our  part.  That  condition  is 
satisfied.  Christ's  death  brings  to  us  God's  pardon, 
and  when  the  great  barrier  of  unforgiven  sin  is 
cleared  away,  Christ's  life  pours  into  our  hearts,  and 
**  everything  lives  whithersoever  the  river  cometh." 

Here  then  we  have  the  deepest  ground  of  Paul's 
intense  hatred  of  every  attempt  to  make  anything 
but  faith  in  Christ  and  moral  purity  essential  to  the 
perfect  Christian  life  Circumcision  and  baptism 
and  all  other  rites  or  sacraments  of  Judaism  or 
Christianity  are  equally  powerless  to  quicken   dead 


212  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

souls.  For  that,  the  first  thing  needed  is  the  for- 
giveness of  sins,  and  that  is  ours  through  simple 
faith  in  Christ's  death.  We  are  quickened  by 
Christ's  own  life  in  us,  and  He  "dwells  in  our  hearts 
by  faith."  All  ordinances  may  be  administered  to 
us  a  hundred  times,  and  without  faith  they  leave  us 
as  they  found  us — dead.  If  we  have  hold  of  Christ 
by  faith  we  live,  whether  we  have  received  the 
ordinances  or  not.  So  all  full  blown  or  budding 
sacramentarianism  is  to  be  fought  against  to  the 
uttermost,  because  it  tends  to  block  the  road  to  the 
City  of  Refuge  for  a  poor  sinful  soul,  and  the  most 
pressing  of  all  necessities  is  that  that  way  of  life 
should  be  kept  clear  and  unimpeded. 

We  need  the  profound  truth  which  lies  in  the 
threefold  form  which  Paul  gives  to  one  of  his  great 
watchwords  :  "  Circumcision  is  nothing,  and  uncir- 
cumcision  is  nothing,  but  the  keeping  of  the  com- 
mandments of  God."  And  how,  says  my  despairing 
conscience,  shall  I  keep  the  commandments  ?  The 
answer  lies  in  the  second  form  of  the  saying — "  In 
Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  anything, 
nor  uncircumcision,  but  a  new  creature."  And  how, 
replies  my  saddened  heart,  can  I  become  a  new 
creature  ?  The  answer  lies  in  the  final  form  of 
the  saying — "  In  Jesus  Christ  neither  circumcision 
availeth  anything  nor  uncircumcision,  but  faith  which 
worketh."  Faith  brings  the  life  which  makes  us  new 
men,  and  then  we  can  keep  the  commandments.  If 
we  have  faith,  and  are  new  men  and  do  God's  will, 
we  need  no  rites  but  as  helps.  If  we  have  not  faith, 
all  rites  are  nothinir. 


XIV. 

THE  CROSS  THE  DEATH  OF  LAW  AND  THE  TRIUMPH 
OVER  EVIL  POWERS.  • 

"  Blotting  out  the  handwriting  of  ordinances  that  was  against  us, 
which  was  contrary  to  us,  and  took  it  out  of  the  way,  nailing  it  to  His 
cross  ;  and  having  spoiled  principalities  and  powers,  He  made  a  show 
of  them  openly,  triumphing  over  them  in  it." — CoL.  ii.  14,  15  (Rev. 
Ver.). 

THE  same  double  reference  to  the  two  charac- 
teristic errors  of  the  Colossians  which  we  have 
already  met  so  frequently,  presents  itself  here. 
This  whole  section  vibrates  continually  between 
warnings  against  the  Judaising  enforcement  of  the 
Mosaic  law  on  Gentile  Christians,  and  against  the 
Oriental  figments  about  a  crowd  of  angelic  beings 
filling  the  space  betwixt  man  and  God,  betwixt 
pure  spirit  and  gross  matter.  One  great  fact  is  here 
opposed  to  these  strangely  associated  errors.  The 
cross  of  Christ  is  the  abrogation  of  the  Law  ;  the 
cross  of  Christ  is  the  victory  over  principalities  and 
powers.  If  we  hold  fast  by  it,  we  are  under  no 
subjection  to  the  former,  and  have  neither  to  fear 
nor  reverence  the  latter. 

I.  The  Cross  of  Christ  is  the  death  of  Law. 

The  law  is  a  written  document.  It  has  an 
antagonistic  aspect  to  us  all.  Gentiles  as  well  as 
Jews.     Christ  has  blotted  it  out.     More  than  that, 


214  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

He  has  taken  it  out  of  the  way,  as  if  it  were  an 
obstacle  lying  right  in  the  middle  of  our  path. 
More  than  that,  it  is  "  nailed  to  the  cross."  That 
phrase  has  been  explained  by  an  alleged  custom  of 
repealing  laws  and  cancelling  bonds  by  driving  a 
nail  into  them,  and  fixing  them  up  in  public,  but 
proof  of  the  practice  is  said  to  be  wanting.  The 
thought  seems  to  be  deeper  than  that.  This  an- 
tagonistic "  law  "  is  conceived  of  as  being,  like  "  the 
world,"  crucified  in  the  crucifixion  of  our  Lord. 
The  nails  which  fastened  Him  to  the  cross  fastened 
it,  and  in  His  death  it  was  done  to  death.  We  are 
free  from  it,  "  that  being  dead  in  which  we  were  held." 

We  have  first,  then,  to  consider  the  "handwriting," 
or,  as  some  would  render  the  word,  "  the  bond."  Of 
course,  by  law  here  is  primarily  meant  the  Mosaic 
ceremonial  law,  which  was  being  pressed  jLipon  the 
Colossians.  It  is  so  completely  antiquated  for  us, 
that  we  have  difficulty  in  realising  what  a  fight  for 
life  and  death  raged  round  the  question  of  its 
observance  by  the  primitive  Church.  It  is  always 
harder  to  change  customs  than  creeds,  and  religious 
observances  live  on,  as  every  maypole  on  a  village 
green  tells  us,  long  after  the  beliefs  which  animated 
them  are  forgotten.  So  there  was  a  strong  body 
among  the  early  believers  to  whom  it  was  flat 
blasphemy  to  speak  of  allowing  the  Gentile 
Christian  to  come  into  the  Church,  except  through 
the  old  doorway  of  circumcision,  and  to  whom  the 
outward  ceremonial  of  Judaism  was  the  only  visible 
religion.  That  is  the  point  directly  at  issue  between 
Paul  and  these  teachers. 

But  the  modern  distinction  between  moral  and 
ceremonial  law  had  no  existence  in  Paul's  mind,  any 


Col.  ii.  14,  15.]  THE   CROSS,  215 

more  than  it  has  in  the  Old  Testament,  where 
precepts  of  the  highest  morality  and  regulations  of 
the  merest  ceremonial  are  interstratified  in  a  way- 
most  surprising  to  us  moderns.  To  him  the  law 
was  a  homogeneous  whole,  however  diverse  its 
commands,  because  it  was  all  the  revelation  of  the 
will  of  God  for  the  guidance  of  man.  It  is  the 
law  as  a  whole,  in  all  its  aspects  and  parts,  that  is 
here  spoken  of,  whether  as  enjoining  morality,  or 
external  observances,  or  as  an  accuser  fastening  guilt 
on  the  conscience,  or  as  a  stern  prophet  of  retribu- 
tion and  punishment. 

Further,  we  must  give  a  still  wider  extension  to 
the  thought.  The  principles  laid  down  are  true 
not  only  in  regard  to  "  the  law,"  but  about  all  law, 
whether  it  be  written  on  the  tables  of  stone,  or  on 
"  the  fleshy  tables  of  the  heart  "  or  conscience,  or  in 
the  systems  of  ethics,  or  in  the  customs  of  society. 
Law,  as  such,  howsoever  enacted  and  whatever  the 
bases  of  its  rule,  is  dealt  with  by  Christianity  in 
precisely  the  same  way  as  the  venerable  and  God- 
given  code  of  the  Old  Testament.  When  we 
recognise  that  fact,  these  discussions  in  Paul's 
Epistles  flash  up  into  startling  vitality  and  interest. 
It  has  long  since  been  settled  that  Jewish  ritual 
is  nothing  to  us.  But  it  ever  remains  a  burning 
question  for  each  of  us.  What  Christianity  does  for 
us  in  relation  to  the  solemn  law  of  duty  under 
which  we  are  all  placed,  and  which  we  have  all 
broken  ? 

The  antagonism  of  law  is  the  next  point  pre- 
sented by  these  words.  Twice,  to  add  to  the 
emphasis,  Paul  tells  us  that  the  law  is  against  us. 
It  stands  opposite  us  fronting  us  and  frowning  at  us, 


2i6  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

and  barring  our  road.  Is  "  law "  then  become  our 
"  enemy  because  it  tells  us  the  truth  ? "  Surely 
this  conception  of  law  is  a  strange  contrast  to  and 
descent  from  the  rapturous  delight  of  psalmists  and 
prophets  in  the  "  law  of  the  Lord."  Surely  God's 
greatest  gift  to  man  is  the  knowledge  of  His  will, 
and  law  is  beneficent,  a  light  and  a  guide  to  men, 
and  even  its  strokes  are  merciful.  Paul  believed 
all  that  too.  But  nevertheless  the  antagonism  is 
very  raal.  As  with  God,  so  with  law,  if  we  be 
against  Him,  He  cannot  but  be  against  us.  We 
may  make  Him  our  dearest  friend  or  our  foe, 
"  They  rebelled  .  .  .  therefore  He  was  turned  to 
be  their  enemy  and  fought  against  them."  The 
revelation  of  duty  to  which  we  are  not  inclined  is 
ever  unwelcome.  Law  is  against  us,  because  it 
comes  like  a  taskmaster,  bidding  us  do,  but  neither 
putting  the  inclination  into  our  hearts,  nor  the 
power  into  our  hands.  And  law  is  against  us, 
because  the  revelation  of  unfulfilled  duty  is  the 
accusation  of  the  defaulter  and  a  revelation  to  him 
of  his  guilt.  And  law  is  against  us,  because  it 
comes  with  threatenings  and  foretastes  of  penalty 
and  pain.  Thus  as  standard,  accuser  and  avenger, 
it  is — sad  perversion  of  its  nature  and  function 
though  such  an  attitude  be — against  us. 

We  all  know  that.  Strange  and  tragic  it  is,  but 
alas !  it  is  true,  that  God's  law  presents  itself  before 
us  as  an  enemy.  Each  of  us  has  seen  that  appari- 
tion, severe  in  beauty,  like  the  sword-bearing  angel 
that  Balaam  saw  "  standing  in  the  way  "  between 
the  vineyards,  blocking  our  path  when  we  wanted 
to  "  go  frowardly  in  the  way  of  our  heart."  Each 
of  us  knows  what  it  is  to  see  our  sentence  in  the 


Col.  ii.  14,  15.]  THE  CROSS.  217 

stern  face.  The  law  of  the  Lord  should  be  to  us 
"  sweeter  than  honey  and  the  honeycomb,"  but  the 
corruption  of  the  best  is  the  worst,  and  we  can  make 
it  poison.  Obeyed,  it  is  as  the  chariot  of  fire  to 
bear  us  heavenward.  Disobeyed,  it  is  an  iron  car 
that  goes  crashing  on  its  way,  crushing  all  who  set 
themselves  against  it.  To  know  what  we  ought  to 
be  and  to  love  and  try  to  be  it,  is  blessedness,  but 
to  know  it  and  to  refuse  to  be  it,  is  misery.  In 
herself  she  "  wears  the  Godhead's  most  benignant 
grace,"  but  if  we  turn  against  her,  Law,  the  "  daughter 
of  the  voice  of  God,"  gathers  frowns  upon  her  face 
and  her  beauty  becomes  stern  and  threatening. 

But  the  great  principle  here  asserted  is — the 
destruction  of  law  in  the  cross  of  Christ.  The  cross 
ends  the  law's  power  of  punishment,  Paul  believed 
that  the  burden  and  penalty  of  sin  had  been  laid  on 
Jesus  Christ  and  borne  by  Him  on  His  cross.  In 
deep,  mysterious,  but  most  real  identification  of 
Himself  with  the  whole  race  of  man.  He  not  only 
Himself  took  our  infirmities  and  bare  our  sicknesses, 
by  the  might  of  His  sympathy  and  the  reality  of  His 
manhood,  but  "  the  Lord  made  to  meet  upon  Him 
the  iniquity  of  us  all "  ;  and  He,  the  Lamb  of  God, 
willingly  accepted  the  load,  and  bare  away  our  sins 
by  bearing  their  penalty. 

To  philosophise  on  that  teaching  of  Scripture  is 
not  my  business  here.  It  is  my  business  to  assert 
it.  We  can  never  penetrate  to  a  full  understanding 
of  the  rationale  of  Christ's  bearing  the  world's  sins, 
but  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  earnestness  of 
our  belief  in  the  fact.  Enough  for  us  that  in  His 
person  He  willingly  made  experience  of  all  the  bitter- 
ness of  sin  :  that  when   He  agonised  in  the  dark  on 


21 8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

the  cross,  and  when  from  out  of  the  darkness  came 
that  awful  cry,  so  strangely  compact  of  wistful  con- 
fidence and  utter  isolation,  "  My  God,  My  God,  why 
hast  Thou  forsaken  Me  ? "  it  was  something  deeper 
than  physical  pain  or  shrinking  from  physical  death 
that  found  utterance — even  the  sin-laden  conscious- 
ness of  Kim  who  in  that  awful  hour  gathered  into 
His  own  breast  the  spear-points  of  a  world's  punish- 
ment. The  cross  of  Christ  is  the  endurance  of  the 
penalty  of  sin,  and  therefore  is  the  unloosing  of  the 
grip  of  the  law  upon  us,  in  so  far  as  threatening  and 
punishment  are  concerned.  It  is  not  enough  that 
we  should  only  intellectually  recognise  that  as  a 
principle — it  is  the  very  heart  of  the  gospel,  the 
very  life  of  our  souls.  Trusting  ourselves  to  that 
great  sacrifice,  the  dread  of  punishment  will  fade 
from  our  hearts,  and  the  thunder-clouds  melt  out  of 
the  sky,  and  the  sense  of  guilt  will  not  be  a  sting, 
but  an  occasion  for  lowly  thankfulness,  and  the  law 
will  have  to  draw  the  bolts  of  her  prison-house  and 
let  our  captive  souls  go  free. 

Christ's  cross  is  the  end  of  law  as  ceremoniaL  The 
whole  elaborate  ritual  of  the  Jew  had  sacrifice  for  its 
vital  centre,  and  the  prediction  of  the  Great  Sacrifice 
for  its  highest  purpose.  Without  the  admission  of 
these  principles,  Paul's  position  is  unintelligible,  for 
he  holds,  as  in  this  context,  that  Christ's  coming  puts 
the  whole  system  out  of  date,  because  it  fulfils  it  all. 
When  the  fruit  has  set,  there  is  no  more  need  for 
petals  ;  or,  as  the  Apostle  himself  puts  it,  "  when 
that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  that  which  is  in  part  is 
done  away."  We  have  the  reality,  and  do  not  need 
the  shadow.  There  is  but  one  temple  for  the  Chris- 
tian soul — the  "  temple  of  His  body."    Local  sanctity 


Col.  ii.  14,  15.1  THE   CROSS,  219 

is  at  an  end,  for  it  was  never  more  than  an  external 
picture  of  that  spiritual  fact  which  is  realised  in  the 
Incarnation.  Christ  is  the  dwelling-place  of  Deity, 
the  meeting-place  of  God  and  man,  the  place  of 
sacrifice  ;  and,  builded  on  Him,  we  in  Him  become 
a  spiritual  house.  There  are  none  other  temples 
than  these.  Christ  is  the  great  priest,  and  in  His 
presence  all  human  priesthood  loses  its  consecration, 
for  it  could  offer  only  external  sacrifice,  and  secure  a 
local  approach  to  a  "  worldly  sanctuary."  He  is  the 
real  Aaron,  and  we  in  Him  become  a  royal  priest- 
hood. There  are  none  other  priests  than  these. 
Christ  is  the  true  sacrifice.  His  death  is  the  real 
propitiation  for  sin,  and  we  in  Him  become  thank- 
offerings,  moved  by  His  mercies  to  present  ourselves 
living  sacrifices.  There  are  none  other  offerings  than 
these.  So  the  law  as  a  code  of  ceremonial  worship 
is  done  to  death  in  the  cross,  and,  like  the  temple 
vail,  is  torn  in  two  from  the  top  to  the  bottom. 

Christ's  cross  is  the  end  of  law  as  moral  rule. 
Nothing  in  Paul's  writings  warrants  the  restriction  to 
the  ceremonial  law  of  the  strong  assertion  in  the 
text,  and  its  many  parallels.  Of  course,  such  words 
do  not  mean  that  Christian  men  are  freed  from  the 
obligations  of  morality,  but  they  do  mean  that  we 
are  not  bound  to  do  the  "  things  contained  in  the 
law"  because  they  are  there.  Duty  is  duty  now 
because  we  see  the  pattern  of  conduct  and  character 
in  Christ.  Conscience  is  not  our  standard,  nor  is 
the  Old  Testament  conception  of  the  perfect  ideal 
of  manhood.  We  have  neither  to  read  law  in  the 
fleshy  tables  of  the  heart,  nor  in  the  tables  graven 
by  God's  own  finger,  nor  in  men's  parchments  and 
prescriptions.     Our  law  is  the  perfect  life  and  death 


220  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

of  Christ,  who  is  at  once  the  ideal  of  humanity  and 
the  reality  of  Deity. 

The  weakness  of  all  law  is  that  it  merely  com- 
mands, but  has  no  power  to  get  its  commandments 
obeyed.  Like  a  discrowned  king,  it  posts  its  pro- 
clamations, but  has  no  army  at  its  back  to  execute 
them.  But  Christ  puts  His  own  power  within  us, 
and  His  love  in  our  hearts  ;  and  so  we  pass  from 
under  the  dominion  of  an  external  commandment 
into  the  liberty  of  an  inward  spirit.  He  is  to  His 
followers  both  "  law  and  impulse."  He  gives  not 
the  "law  of  a  carnal  commandment,  but  the  power 
of  an  endless  life."  The  long  schism  between  in- 
clination and  duty  is  at  an  end,  in  so  far  as  we  are 
under  the  influence  of  Christ's  cross.  The  great 
promise  is  fulfilled,  "  I  will  put  My  law  into  their 
minds  and  write  it  in  their  hearts "  ;  and  so,  glad 
obedience  with  the  whole  power  of  the  new  life,  for 
the  sake  of  the  love  of  the  dear  Lord  who  has 
bought  us  by  His  death,  supersedes  the  constrained 
submission  to  outward  precept  A  higher  morality 
ought  to  characterise  the  partakers  of  the  life  of 
Christ,  who  have  His  example  for  their  code,  and 
His  love  for  their  motive.  The  tender  voice  that 
says,  "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  commandments," 
wins  us  to  purer  and  more  self-sacrificing  goodness 
than  the  stern  accents  that  can  only  say,  "  Thou 
shalt — or  else  !  "  can  ever  enforce.  He  came  "  not 
to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."  The  fulfilment  was  des- 
truction in  order  to  reconstruction  in  higher  form. 
Law  died  with  Christ  on  the  cross  in  order  that  it 
might  rise  and  reign  with  Him  in  our  inmost  hearts. 

IL  The  Cross  is  the  triumph  over  all  the  powers 
of  evil. 


Colii.  14,  15.]  ^^^'   CROSS,  221 

There  are  considerable  difficulties  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  verse  I  5  ;  the  main  question  being  the 
meaning  of  the  word  rendered  in  the  Authorized 
Version  "  spoiled,"  and  in  the  R.  V.  "  having  put 
off  from  Himself."  It  is  the  same  word  as  is  used 
in  iii.  9,  and  is  there  rendered  "have  put  off"; 
while  a  cognate  noun  is  found  in  verse  1 1  of  this 
chapter,  and  is  there  translated  "  the  putting  off." 
The  form  here  must  either  mean  "  having  put  off 
from  oneself,"  or  "  having  stripped  (others)  for  one- 
self." The  former  meaning  is  adopted  by  many 
commentators,  as  well  as  by  the  R.  V.,  and  is  ex- 
plained to  mean  that  Christ  having  assumed  our 
humanity,  was,  as  it  were,  wrapped  about  and 
invested  with  Satanic  temptations,  which  He  finally 
flung  from  Him  for  ever  in  His  death,  which  was 
His  triumph  over  the  powers  of  evil.  The  figure 
seems  far-fetched  and  obscure,  and  the  rendering 
necessitates  the  supposition  of  a  change  in  the 
person  spoken  of,  which  must  be  God  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  period,  and  Christ  in  the  latter. 

But  if  we  adopt  the  other  meaning,  which  has 
equal  warrant  in  the  Greek  form,  "  having  stripped 
for  Himself,"  we  get  the  thought  that  in  the  cross, 
God  has,  for  His  greater  glory,  stripped  principalities 
and  powers.  Taking  this  meaning,  we  avoid  the 
necessity  of  supposing  with  Bishop  Lightfoot  that 
there  is  a  change  of  subject  from  God  to  Christ 
at  some  point  in  the  period  including  verses  13  to 
15 — an  expedient  which  is  made  necessary  by  the 
impossibility  of  supposing  that  God  "divested  Him- 
self of  principalities  or  powers  " — and  also  avoid  the 
other  necessity  of  referring  the  whole  period  to 
Christ,  which  is  another  way  out  of  that  impossibility* 


229  THE  EPISTLE   TO    7 HE   COLOSSIANS. 

We  thereby  obtain  a  more  satisfactory  meaning  than 
that  Ciirist  in  assuming  humanity  was  assailed  by 
temptations  from  the  powers  of  evil  which  were,  as 
it  were,  a  poisoned  garment  clinging  to  Him,  and 
which  He  stripped  off  from  Himself  in  His  death. 
Further,  such  a  meaning  as  that  which  we  adopt 
makes  the  whole  verse  a  consistent  metaphor  in 
three  stages,  whereas  the  other  introduces  an  utterly 
incongruous  and  irrelevant  figure.  What  connection 
has  the  figure  of  stripping  off  a  garment  with  that 
of  a  conqueror  in  his  triumphal  procession  ?  But 
if  we  read  "  spoiled  for  Himself  principalities  and 
powers,"  we  see  the  whole  process  before  our  eyes — 
the  victor  stripping  his  foes  of  arms  and  ornaments 
and  dress,  then  parading  them  as  his  captives,  and 
then  dragging  them  at  the  wheels  of  his  triumphal 
car. 

The  words  point  us  into  dim  regions  of  which  we 
know  nothing  more  than  Scripture  tells  us.  These 
dreamers  at  Colossae  had  much  to  say  about  a  crowd 
of  beings,  bad  and  good,  which  linked  men  and 
matter  with  spirit  and  God.  We  have  heard  already 
the  emphasis  with  which  Paul  has  claimed  for  his 
Master  the  sovereign  authority  of  Creator  over  all 
orders  of  being,  the  headship  over  all  principality 
and  power.  He  has  declared,  too,  that  from  Christ's 
cross  a  magnetic  influence  streams  out  upwards  as 
well  as  earthwards,  binding  all  things  together  in 
the  great  reconciliation — and  now  he  tells  us  that 
from  that  same  cross  shoot  downwards  darts  of 
conquering  power  which  subdue  and  despoil  reluct- 
ant foes  of  other  realms  and  regions  than  ours,  in  so 
far  as  they  work  among  men. 

That  there  are  such  seems  plainly  enough  asserted 


Col.  ii.  14,  15-]  THE   CROSS,  223 

in  Christ's  own  words.  However  much  discredit 
has  been  brought  on  the  thought  by  monastic  and 
Puritan  exaggerations,  it  is  clearly  the  teaching  of 
Scripture  ;  and  however  it  may  be  ridiculed  or  set 
aside,  it  can  never  be  disproved. 

But  the  position  which  Christianity  takes  in 
reference  to  the  whole  matter  is  to  maintain  that 
Christ  has  conquered  the  banded  kingdom  of  evil, 
and  that  no  man  owes  it  fear  or  obedience,  if  he 
will  only  hold  fast  by  his  Lord.  In  the  cross  is  the 
judgment  of  this  world,  and  by  it  is  the  prince  of 
this  world  cast  out.  He  has  taken  away  the  power 
of  these  Powers  who  were  so  mighty  amongst  men. 
They  held  men  captive  by  temptations  too  strong 
to  be  overcome,  but  He  has  conquered  the  lesser 
temptations  of  the  wilderness  and  the  sorer  of  the 
cross,  and  therein  has  made  us  more  than  conquerors. 
v/They  held  men  captive  by  ignorance  of  God,  and 
the  cross  reveals  Him  ;  by  the  lie  that  sin  was  a 
trifle,  but  the  cross  teaches  us  its  gravity  and  power  ; 
by  the  opposite  lie  that  sin  was  unforgivable,  but 
the  cross  brings  pardon  for  every  transgression  and 
cleansing  for  every  stain.  By  the  cross  the  world  is 
a  redeemed  world,  and,  as  our  Lord  said  in  words 
which  may  have  suggested  the  figure  of  our  text,  the 
strong  man  is  bound,  and  his  house  spoiled  of  all  his 
armour  wherein  he  trusted.  The  prey  is  taken  from 
the  mighty  and  men  are  delivered  from  the  dominion 
of  evil.  So  that  dark  kingdom  is  robbed  of  its 
subjects  and  its  rulers  impoverished  and  restrained. 
The  devout  imagination  of  the  monk-painter  drew 
on  the  wall  of  the  cell  in  his  convent  the  conquering 
Christ  with  white  banner  bearing  a  blood-red  cross, 
befoi  ^  whose  glad  coming  the  heavy  doors  of  the 


224  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

prison-house  fell  from  their  hinges,  crushing  beneath 
their  weight  the  demon  jailer,  while  the  long  file  of 
eager  captives,  from  Adam  onwards  through  ages 
of  patriarchs  and  psalmists  and  prophets,  hurried 
forward  with  outstretched  hands  to  meet  the 
Deliverer,  who  came  bearing  His  own  atm.osphere  of 
radiance  and  joy.  Christ  has  conquered.  His  cross 
is  His  victory  ;  and  in  that  victoiy  God  has  con- 
quered. As  the  long  files  of  the  triumphal  proces- 
sion swept  upwards  to  the  temple  with  incense  and 
music,  before  the  gazing  eyes  of  a  gathered  glad 
nation,  while  the  conquered  trooped  chained  behind 
the  chariot,  that  all  men  might  see  their  fierce  eyes 
gleaming  beneath  their  matted  hair,  and  breathe  more 
freely  for  the  chains  on  their  hostile  wrists,  so  in  the 
world-wide  issues  of  the  work  of  Christ,  God  triumphs 
before  the  universe,  and  enhances  His  glory  in  that 
He  has  rent  the  prey  from  the  mighty  and  won 
men  back  to  Himself. 

So  we  learn  to  think  of  evil  as  conquered,  and  for 
ourselves  in  our  own  conflicts  with  the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devil,  as  well  as  for  the  whole  race  of 
man,  to  be  of  good  cheer.  True,  the  victory  is  but 
slowly  being  realised  in  all  its  consequences,  and 
often  it  seems  as  if  no  territory  had  been  won.  But 
the  main  position  has  been  carried,  and  though  the 
struggle  is  still  obstinate,  it  can  end  only  in  one 
way.  The  brute  dies  hard,  but  the  naked  heel  of 
our  Christ  has  bruised  his  head,  and  though  still  the 
dragon 

"SAvir\c;cs  the  scaly  horror  of  his  folded  tail," 

his  death  will  come  sooner  or  later.  The  regenera- 
ting power  is  lodged  in  the  heart  of  humanity,  and 


Col.  ii.  14,  15.]  THE   CROSS.  225 

the  centre  from  which  it  flows  is  the  cross.  The 
history  of  the  world  thenceforward  is  but  the  history 
of  its  more  or  less  rapid  assimilation  of  that  power, 
and  of  its  consequent  deliverance  from  the  bondage 
in  which  it  has  been  held.  The  end  can  only  be  the 
entire  and  universal  manifestation  of  the  victory 
which  was  won  when  He  bowed  His  head  and  died. 
Christ's  cross  is  God's  throne  of  triumph. 

Let  us  see  that  we  have  our  own  personal  part 
in  that  victory.  Holding  to  Christ,  and  drawing 
from  Him  by  faith  a  share  in  His  new  life,  we  shall 
no  longer  be  under  the  yoke  of  law,  but  enfranchised 
into  the  obedience  of  love,  which  is  liberty.  We 
shall  no  longer  be  slaves  of  evil,  but  sons  and 
servants  of  our  conquering  God,  who  woos  and 
wins  us  by  showing  us  all  His  love  in  Christ,  and 
by  giving  us  His  own  Son  on  the  Cross,  our  peace- 
offering.  If  we  let  Him  overcome,  His  victory  will 
be  life,  not  death.  He  will  strip  us  of  nothing  but 
rags,  and  clothe  us  in  garments  of  purity ;  He  will 
so  breathe  beauty  into  us  that  He  will  show  us 
openly  to  the  universe  as  examples  of  His  trans- 
forming power,  and  He  will  bind  us  glad  captives  to 
His  chariot  wheels,  partakers  of  His  victory  as  well 
as  trophies  of  His  all-conquering  love.  "Now 
thanks  be  unto  God,  which  always  triumphs  over 
us  in  Jesus  Christ." 


n 


XV. 


WARNINGS  AGAINST   TWIN  CHIEF  ERRORS,   BASED 
UPON  PREVIOUS  POSITIVE    TEACHING. 

**  Let  no  man  therefore  judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or  in  respect 
of  a  feast  day  or  a  new  moon  or  a  sabbath  day :  which  are  a  shadow  of 
things  to  come  ;  but  the  body  is  Christ's.  Let  no  man  rob  you  of  your 
prize  by  a  voluntary  humility  and  worshipping  of  the  angels,  dwelling  in 
the  things  which  he  hath  seen,  vainly  puffed  up  by  his  fleshly  mind,  and 
not  holding  fast  the  Head,  from  whom  all  the  body,  being  supplied  and 
knit  together  through  the  joints  and  bands,  increaseth  with  the  increase 
of  God."— Col.  ii.  16-19  (Rev.  Ver.). 

"  T  ET  no  man  therefore  judge  you.'*  That  "  there- 
■L'  fore  "  sends  us  back  to  what  the  Apostle  has 
been  saying  in  the  previous  verses,  in  order  to  find 
there  the  ground  of  these  earnest  warnings.  That 
ground  is  the  whole  of  the  foregoing  exposition  of 
the  Christian  relation  to  Christ  as  far  back  as 
verse  9,  but  especially  the  great  truths  contained  in 
the  immediately  preceding  verses,  that  the  cross  of 
Christ  is  the  death  of  law,  and  God's  triumph  over 
all  the  powers  of  evil.  Because  it  is  so,  the 
Colossian  CJiristians  are  exhorted  to  claim  and  use 
their  emancipation  from  both.  Thus  we  have  here 
the  very  heart  and  centre  of  the  practical  counsels 
of  the  Epistle — the  double  blasts  of  the  iiunipet 
warning  against  the  two  most  pressing  dangers 
besetting  the  Church.  They  are  the  same  two 
which    we    have    often    met    already — on    the    one 


Col.  ii.  16-19.]  WARNINGS.  227 

bind,  a  narrow  Judaising  enforcement  of  ceremonial 
a\^d  punctilios  of  outward  observance  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  a  dreamy  Oriental  absorption  in  imaginations 
of  a  crowd  of  angelic  mediators  obscuring  the  one 
gracious  presence  of  Christ  our  Intercessor. 

I.  Here  then  we  have  first,  the  claim  for  Christian 
liberty,  with  the  great  truth  on  which  it  is  built. 

•  The  points  in  regard  to  which  that  liberty  is  to  be 
exercised  are  specified.  They  are  no  doubt  those, 
in  addition  to  circumcision,  which  were  principally 
in  question  then  and  there.  "  Meat  and  drink  " 
refers  to  restrictions  in  diet,  such  as  the  prohibition 
of  "  unclean  "  things  in  the  Mosaic  law,  and  the 
question  of  the  lawfulness  of  eating  meat  offered 
to  idols ;  perhaps  also,  such  as  the  Nazarite  vow. 
There  were  few  regulations  as  to  "  drink  "  in  the  Old 
Testament,  so  that  probably  other  ascetic  practices 
besides  the  Mosaic  regulations  were  in  question,  but 
these  must  have  been  unimportant,  else  Paul  could 
not  have  spoken  of  the  whole  as  being  a  *'' shadow 
of  things  to  come."  The  second  point  in  regard  to 
which  liberty  is  here  claimed  is  that  of  the  sacred 
seasons  of  Judaism  :  the  annual  festivals,  the  monthly 
feast  of  the  new  moon,  the  weekly  Sabbath. 

The  relation  of  the  Gentile  converts  to  these 
Jewish  practices  was  an  all-important  question  for  the 
early  Church.  It  was  really  the  question  whether 
Christianity  was  to  be  more  than  a  Jewish  sect — • 
and  the  main  force  v,^hich,  under  God,  settled  the 
contest,  was  the  vehemence  and  logic  of  the  Apostle 
Paul. 

Here  he  lays  down  the  ground  on  which  that  whole 
question  about  diet  and  days,  and  all  such  matters,  is 
to  be  settled.     They  "are  a  shadow  of  things  to  come, 


J 


228  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

but  the  body  is  of  Christ."  "  Coming  events  cast 
their  shadows  before!^  That  great  work  of  Divine 
iove,  the  mission  of  Christ,  Whose  "goings  forth 
have  been  from  everlasting,"  may  be  thought  of  as 
having  set  out  from  the  Throne  as  soon  as  time  was, 
traveUing  in  the  greatness  of  its  strength,  Hke  the 
beams  of  some  far-off  star  that  have  not  yet 
reached  a  dark  world.  The  light  from  the  Throne 
is  behind  Him  as  He  advances  across  the  centuries, 
and  the  shadow  is  thrown  far  in  front. 

Now  that  involves  two  thoughts  about  the  Mosaic 
law  and  whole  system.  First,  the  purely  prophetic 
and  symbolic  character  of  the  Old  Testament  order, 
and  especially  of  the  Old  Testament  ritual.  The 
absurd  extravagance  of  many  attempts  to  "  spiri- 
tualize" the  latter  should  not  blind  us  to  the  truth 
which  they  caricature.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
should  we  be  so  taken  with  new  attempts  to  re- 
construct our  notions  of  Jewish  history  and  the 
dates  of  Old  Testament  books,  as  to  forget  that, 
though  the  New  Testament  is  committed  to  no 
theory  on  these  points,  it  is  committed  to  the  Divine 
origin  and  prophetic  purpose  of  the  Mosaic  law  and 
Levitical  worship.  We  should  thankfully  accept  all 
teaching  which  free  criticism  and  scholarship  can 
give  us  as  to  the  process  by  which,  and  the  time 
when,  that  great  symbolic  system  of  acted  prophecy 
was  h\x\\\.  up  ;  but  we  shall  be  further  away  than 
ever  from  understanding  the  Old  Testament  if  we 
have  gained  critical  knowledge  of  its  genesis,  and 
have  lost  the  belief  that  its  symbols  were  given  by 
God  to  prophesy  of  His  Son.  That  is  the  key  to 
both  Testaments ;  and  I  cannot  but  believe  that 
the  uncritical  reader    who  reads    his    book  of   the 


Col.  ii.  16-19.]  WARNINGS,  229 

law  and  the  prophets  with  that  conviction,  has  got 
nearer  the  very  marrow  of  the  book,  than  the  critic, 
if  he  have  parted  with  it,  can  ever  come. 

Sacrifice,  altar,  priest,  temple  spake  of  Him.  The 
distinctions  of  meats  were  meant,  among  other 
purposes,  to  familiarize  men  with  the  conceptions 
of  purity  and  impurity,  and  so,  by  stimulating  con- 
science, to  wake  the  sense  of  need  of  a  Purifier. 
The  yearly  feasts  set  forth  various  aspects  of  the 
great  work  of  Christ,  and  the  sabbath  showed 
in  outward  form  the  rest  into  which  He  leads  those 
who  cease  from  their  own  works  and  wear  His  yoke. 
All  these  observances,  and  the  whole  system  to 
which  they  belong,  are  like  out-riders  who  precede  a 
prince  on  his  progress,  and  as  they  gallop  through 
sleeping  villages,  rouse  them  with  the  cry,  "The 
king  is  coming  !  " 

And  when  the  king  has  come,  where  are  the 
heralds  ?  and  when  the  reality  has  come,  who  wants 
symbols  ?  and  if  that  which  threw  the  shadow 
forward  through  the  ages  has  arrived,  how  shall 
the  shadow  be  visible  too  ?  Therefore  the  second 
principle  here  laid  down,  namely  the  cessation  of  all 
these  observances,  and  their  like,  is  really  involved 
in  the  first,  namely  their  prophetic  character. 

The  practical  conclusion  drawn  is  very  noteworthy, 
because  it  seems  much  narrower  than  the  premises 
warrant.  Paul  does  not  say — 'therefore  let  dd  man 
observe  any  of  these  any  more  ;  but  takes  ^^ip  the 
much  more  modest  ground — let  no  man  judge  you 
about  them.  He  claims  a  wide  liberty  of  variation, 
and  all  that  he  repels  is  the  right  of  anybody  to 
dragoon  Christian  men  into  ceremonial  observances 
on    the  ground   that  they  are  necessary.      He  does 


230  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS, 

not  quarrel  with  the  rites,  but  with  men  insisting  on 
the  necessity  of  the  rites. 

In  his  own  practice  he  gave  the  best  commentary 
on  his  meaning.  When  they  said  to  him,  "You 
imist  circumcise  Titus,"  he  said,  "  Then  I  will  not." 
When  nobody  tried  to  compel  him,  he  took  Timothy, 
and  of  his  own  accord  circumcised  him  to  avoid 
scandals.  When  it  was  needful  as  a  protest,  he  rode 
right  over  all  the  prescriptions  of  the  law,  and  "did 
eat  with  Gentiles."  When  it  was  advisable  as  a 
demonstration  that  he  himself  "  walked  orderly  and 
kept  the  law,"  he  performed  the  rites  of  purification 
and  united  in  the  temple  worship. 

In  times  of  transition  wise  supporters  of  the  new 
will  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  break  with  the  old>  "  I 
will  lead  on  softly,  according  as  the  flock  and  the 
children  be  able  to  endure,"  said  Jacob,  and  so  says 
every  good  shepherd. 

The  brown  sheaths  remain  on  the  twig  after  the 
tender  green  leaf  has  burst  from  within  them,  but 
there  is  no  need  to  pull  them  off,  for  they  will  drop 
presently.  "  I  will  wear  three  surplices  if  they  like," 
said  Luther  once.  "  Neither  if  we  eat  are  we  the 
better,  neither  if  we  eat  not  are  we  the  worse,"  said 
Paul.  Such  is  the  spirit  of  the  words  here.  It  is 
a  plea  for  Christian  liberty.  If  not  insisted  on  as 
necessary,  the  outward  observances  may  be  allowed. 
If  they  are  regarded  as  helps,  or  as  seemly  adjuncts 
or  the  like,  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  difference 
of  opinion  and  for  variety  of  practice,  according 
to  temperament  and  taste  and  usage.  There  are 
principles  which  should  regulate  even  these  diversities 
of  practice,  and  Paul  has  set  these  forth,  in  the  great 
chapter  about  meats  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


Col.  ii.  16-19.]  WARNINGS.  23 1 

But  it  is  a  different  thing  altogether  when  any 
external  observances  are  insisted  on  as  essential, 
either  from  the  old  Jewish  or  from  the  modern 
sacramentarian  point  of  view.  If  a  man  comes 
saying,  "  Except  ye  be  circumcised,  ye  cannot  be 
saved,"  the  only  right  answer  is.  Then  I  will  not  be 
circumcised,  and  if  yoii  are,  because  you  believe  that 
you  cannot  be  saved  without  it,  "  Christ  is  become 
of  none  effect  to  you."  Nothing  is  necessary  but 
union  to  Him,  and  that  comes  through  no  outward 
observance,  but  through  the  faith  which  worketh  by 
love.  Therefore,  let  no  man  judge  you,  but  repel 
all  such  attempts  at  thrusting  any  ceremonial  ritual 
observances  on  you,  on  the  plea  of  necessity,  with 
the  emancipating  truth  that  the  cross  of  Christ  is 
the  death  of  law. 

A  few  words  may  be  said  here  on  the  bearing 
of  the  principles  laid  down  in  these  verses  on  the 
religious  observance  of  Sunday.  The  obligation  of 
the  Jewish  sabbath  has  passed  away  as  much  as 
sacrifices  and  circumcision.  That  seems  unmistakably 
the  teaching  here.  But  the  institution  of  a  weekly 
day  of  rest  is  distinctly  put  in  Scripture  as  indepen- 
dent of,  and  prior  to,  the  special  form  and  meaning 
given  to  the  institution  in  the  Mosaic  law.  That 
is  the  natural  conclusion  from  the  narrative  of  the 
creative  rest  in  Genesis,  and  from  our  Lord's  emphatic 
declaration  that  the  sabbath  was  made  for  '*  man  " — 
that  is  to  say,  for  the  race.  Many  traces  of  the  pre- 
Mosaic  sabbath  have  been  adduced,  and  among 
others  we  may  recall  the  fact  that  recent  researches 
show  it  to  have  been  observed  by  the  Accadians,  the 
early  inhabitants  of  Assyria..  It  is  a  physical  and 
moral  necessity,  and  that  is  a  sadly  mistaken  benevo- 


232  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CO  LOSS  I  A  NS. 

lence  which  on  the  plea  of  culture  or  amusement  for 
the  many,  compels  the  labour  of  the  few,  and  breaks 
down  the  distinction  between  the  Sunday  and  the 
rest  of  the  week. 

The  religious  observance  of  the  first  day  of  the 
week  rests  on  no  recorded  command,  but  has  a  higher 
origin,  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  outcome  of  a  felt  want. 
The  early  disciples  naturally  gathered  together  for 
worship  on  the  day  which  had  become  so  sacred  to 
them.  At  first,  no  doubt,  they  observed  the  Jewish 
sabbath,  and  only  gradually  came  to  the  practice 
which  we  almost  see  growing  before  our  eyes  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in  the  mention  of  the  disciples 
at  Troas  coming  together  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week  to  break  bread,  and  which  we  gather,  from  the 
Apostle's  instructions  as  to  weekly  setting  apart 
money  for  charitable  purposes,  to  have  existed  in 
the  Church  at  Corinth  ;  as  we  know,  that  even  in 
his  lonely  island  prison  far  away  from  the  company 
of  his  brethren,  the  Apostle  John  was  in  a  condition 
of  high  religious  contemplation  on  the  Lord's  day, 
ere  yet  he  heard  the  solemn  voice  and  saw  "  the 
things  which  are." 

This  gradual  growing  up  of  the  practice  is  in 
ccordance  with  the  whole  spirit  of  the  New  Covenant, 

iich  has  next  to  nothing  to  say  about  the  externals 

worship,  and  leaves  the  new  life  to  shape  itself 
Judaism  gave  prescriptions  and  minute  regulations  ; 
Christianity,  the  religion  of  the  spirit,  gives  principles. 
The  necessity,  for  the  nourishment  of  the  Divine  life, 
of  the  religious  observance  of  the  day  of  rest  is 
certainly  not  less  now  than  at  first.  In  the  hurry 
and  drive  of  our  modern  life,  with  the  world  forcing 
itself  on  us  at  every  moment,  we  cannot  keep  up 


Col.  ii.  16-19.]  WARNINGS,  233 

the  warmth  of  devotion  unless  we  use  this  day,  not 
merely  for  physical  rest,  .and  family  enjoyment,  but 
for  worship.  They  who  know  their  own  slothfulness 
of  spirit,  and  are  in  earnest  in  seeking  after  a  deeper, 
fuller  Christian  life,  will  thankfully  own,  "  the  week 
were  dark  but  for  its  light."  I  distrust  the  spirituality 
which  professes  that  all  life  is  a  sabbath,  and  there- 
fore holds  itself  absolved  from  special  seasons  of 
worship.  If  the  stream  of  devout  communion  is  to 
flow  through  all  our  days,  there  must  be  frequent 
reservoirs  along  the  road,  or  it  will  be  lost  in  the 
sand,  like  the  rivers  of  higher  Asia.  It  is  a  poor 
thing  to  say,  keep  the  day  as  a  day  of  worship 
because  it  is  a  commandment.  Better  to  think  of 
it  as  a  great  gift  for  the  highest  purposes  ;  and  not 
let  it  be  merely  a  day  of  rest  for  jaded  bodies,  but 
make  it  one  of  refreshment  for  cumbered  spirits, 
and  rekindle  the  smouldering  flame  of  devotion, 
by  drawing  near  to  Christ  in  public  and  in  private. 
So  shall  we  gather  stores  that  may  help  us  to  go 
in  the  strength  of  that  meat  for  some  more  marches 
on  the  dusty  road  of  life. 

II.  The  Apostle  passes  on  to  his  second  peal  of 
warning, — that  against  the  teaching  about  angel 
mediators,  which  would  rob  the  Colossian  Christians 
of  their  prize, — and  draws  a  rapid  portrait  of  the 
teachers  of  whom  they  are  to  beware. 

"  Let  no  man  rob  you  of  your  prize."  The 
metaphor  is  the  familiar  one  of  the  race  or  the 
wrestling  ground  ;  the  umpire  or  judge  is  Christ ; 
the  reward  is  that  incorruptible  crown  of  glory,  of 
righteousness,  woven  not  of  fading  bay  leaves,  but 
of  sprays  from  the  "  tree  of  life,"  which  dower  with 
undying  blessedness  the  brows  round  which  they  are 


234  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

wreathed.  Certain  people  are  trying  to  rob  them 
of  their  prize — not  consciously,  for  that  would  be 
inconceivable,  but  such  is  the  tendency  of  their 
teaching.  No  names  will  be  mentioned,  but  he 
draws  a  portrait  of  the  robber  with  swift  firm  hand, 
as  if  he  had  said,  If  you  want  to  know  whom  I 
mean,  here  he  is.  Four  clauses,  like  four  rapid 
strokes  of  the  pencil,  do  it,  and  are  marked  in  the 
Greek  by  four  participles,  the  first  of  which  is 
obscured  in  the  Authorised  Version.  "  Delighting 
in  humility  and  the  worshipping  of  angels."  So 
probably  the  first  clause  should  be  rendered.  The 
first  words  are  almost  contradictory,  and  are  meant 
to  suggest  that  the  humility  has  not  the  genuine 
ring  about  it.  Self-conscious  humility  in  which  a 
man  takes  delight  is  not  the  real  thing.  A  man 
who  knows  that  he  is  humble,  and  is  self-complacent 
about  it,  glancing  out  of  the  corners  of  his  downcast 
eyes  at  any  mirror  where  he  can  see  himself,  is  not 
humble  at  all.  "  The  devil's  darling  vice  is  the 
pride  which  apes  humility." 

So  very  humble  were  these  people  that  they 
would  not  venture  to  pray  to  God  !  There  was 
humility  indeed.  So  far  beneath  did  they  feel  them- 
selves, that  the  utmost  they  could  do  was  to  lay 
hold  of  the  lowest  link  of  a  long  chain  of  angel 
mediators,  in  hope  that  the  vibration  might  run 
upwards  through  all  the  links,  and  perhaps  reach 
the  throne  at  last.  Such  fantastic  abasement  which 
would  not  take  God  at  His  word,  nor  draw  near 
to  Him  in  His  Son,  was  really  the  very  height  of 
pride. 

Then  follows  a  second  descriptive  clause,  of  which 
no  altogether  satisfactory  interpretation  has  yet  been 


Col.  ii.  16-19.]  WARNINGS.  235 

given.  Possibly,  as  has  been  suggested,  we  have 
here  an  early  error  in  the  text,  which  has  affected  all 
the  manuscripts,  and  cannot  now  be  corrected.  Per- 
haps, on  the  whole,  the  translation  adopted  by  the 
Revised  Version  presents  the  least  difficulty — 
"  dwelling  in  the  things  which  he  hath  seen."  In 
that  case  the  seeing  would  be  not  by  the  senses,  but 
by  visions  and  pretended  revelations,  and  the  charge 
against  the  false  teachers  would  be  that  they  "  walked 
in  a  vain  show"  of  unreal  imaginations  and  vision- 
ary hallucinations,  whose  many-coloured  misleading 
lights  they  followed  rather  than  the  plain  sunshine 
of  revealed  facts  in  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Vainly  puffed  up  by  his  fleshly  mind  "  is  the 
next  feature  in  the  portrait.  The  self-conscious 
humility  was  only  skin  deep,  and  covered  the  utmost 
intellectual  arrogance.  The  heretic  teacher,  like  a 
blown  bladder,  was  swollen  with  what  after  all  was 
only  wind  ;  he  was  dropsical  from  conceit  of  "  mind," 
or,  as  we  should  say,  "  intellectual  ability,"  which 
after  all  was  only  the  instrument  and  organ  of  the 
"  flesh,"  the  sinful  self.  And,  of  course,  being  all 
these  things,  he  would  have  no  firm  grip  of  Christ, 
from  whom  such  tempers  and  views  were  sure  to 
detach  him.  Therefore  the  damning  last  clause  of 
the  indictment  is  "not  holding  the  Head."  How 
could  he  do  so  ?  And  the  slackness  of  his  grasp 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  would  make  all  these  errors  and 
faults  ten  times  worse. 

Now  the  special  forms  of  these  errors  which  are 
here  dealt  with  are  all  gone  past  recall.  But  the 
tendencies  which  underlay  these  special  forms  are  as 
rampant  as  ever,  and  work  unceasingly  to  loosen  our 
hold  of  our  dear  Lord.     The  worship  of  angels  is 


236  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

dead,  but  we  are  still  often  tempted  to  think  that 
we  are  too  lowly  and  sinful  to  claim  our  portion  of 
the  faithful  promises  of  God.  The  spurious  humility- 
is  by  no  means  out  of  date,  which  knows  better  than 
God  does,  whether  He  can  forgive  us  our  sins,  and 
bend  over  us  in  love.  We  do  not  slip  in  angel 
mediators  between  ourselves  and  Him,  but  the 
tendency  to  put  the  sole  work  of  Jesus  Christ  "  into 
commission,"  is  not  dead.  We  are  all  tempted  to 
grasp  at  others  as  well  as  at  Him,  for  our  love,  and 
trust,  and  obedience,  and  we  all  need  the  reminder 
that  to  lay  hold  of  any  other  props  is  to  lose  hold 
of  Him,  and  that  he  who  does  not  cleave  to  Christ 
alone,  does  not  cleave  to  Christ  at  all. 

We  do  not  see  visions  and  dream  dreams  any 
more,  except  here  and  there  some  one  led  astray  by  a 
so-called  "  spiritualism,"  but  plenty  of  us  attach  more 
importance  to  our  own  subjective  fancies  or  specula- 
tions about  the  obscurer  parts  of  Christianity  than  to 
the  clear  revelation  of  God  in  Christ.  The  "  unseen 
world  "  has  for  many  minds  an  unwholesome  attrac- 
tion. The  Gnostic  spirit  is  still  in  full  force  among 
us,  which  despises  the  foundation  facts  and  truths  of 
the  gospel  as  "  milk  for  babes,"  and  values  its  own 
baseless  artificial  speculations  about  subordinate 
matters,  which  are  unrevealed  because  they  are 
subordinate,  and  fascinating  to  some  minds  because 
unrevealed,  far  above  the  truths  which  are  clear  be- 
cause they  are  vital,  and  insipid  to  such  minds  because 
they  are  clear.  We  need  to  be  reminded  that  Chris- 
tianity is  not  for  speculation,  but  to  make  us  good, 
and  that  "  He  who  has  fashioned  their  hearts  alike," 
has  made  us  all  to  live  by  the  same  air,  to  be 
nourished   by   the  same  bread    from   heaven,  to  be 


Col.  ii.  16-19.]  WARNINGS.  237 

saved  and  purified  by  the  same  truth.  That  is  the 
gospel  which  the  little  child  can  understand,  of 
which  the  outcast  and  the  barbarian  can  get  some 
kind  of  hold,  which  the  failing  spirit  groping  in  the 
darkness  of  death  can  dimly  see  as  its  light  in  the 
valley — that  is  the  all-important  part  of  the  gospel. 
What  needs  special  training  and  capacity  to  under- 
stand is  no  essential  portion  of  the  truth  that  is 
meant  for  the  world. 

And  a  swollen  self-conceit  is  of  all  things  the 
most  certain  to  keep  a  man  away  from  Christ.  We 
must  feel  our  utter  helplessness  and  need,  before  we 
shall  lay  hold  on  Him,  and  if  ever  that  wholesome 
lowly  sense  of  our  own  emptiness  is  clouded  over, 
that  moment  will  our  fingers  relax  their  tension,  and 
that  moment  will  the  flow  of  life  into  our  deadness 
run  slow  and  pause.  Whatever  slackens  our  hold  of 
Christ  tends  to  rob  us  of  the  final  prize,  that  crown 
of  life  which  He  gives. 

Hence  the  solemn  earnestness  of  these  warnings. 
It  was  not  only  a  doctrine  more  or  less  that  was  at 
stake,  but  it  was  their  eternal  life.  Certain  truths 
believed  would  increase  the  firmness  of  their  hold 
on  their  Lord,  and  thereby  would  secure  the  prize. 
Disbelieved,  the  disbelief  would  slacken  their  grasp 
of  Him,  and  thereby  would  deprive  them  of  it.  We 
are  often  told  that  the  gospel  gives  heaven  for  right 
belief,  and  that  that  is  unjust.  But  if  a  man  does 
not  believe  a  thing,  he  cannot  have  in  his  character 
or  feelings  the  influence  which  the  belief  of  it  would 
produce.  If  he  does  not  believe  that  Christ  died 
for  his  sins,  and  that  all  his  hopes  are  built  on  that 
great  Saviour,  he  will  not  cleave  to  Him  in  love  and 
dependence.     If  he  does  not  so  cleave  to  Him  he 


238  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

will  not  draw  from  Him  the  life  which  would  mould 
his  character  and  stir  him  to  run  the  race.  If  he 
do  not  run  the  race  he  will  never  win  nor  wear 
the  crown.  That  crown  is  the  reward  and  issue  of 
character  and  conduct,  made  possible  by  the  com- 
munication of  strength  and  new  nature  from  Jesus, 
which  again  is  made  possible  through  our  faith 
laying  hold  of  Him  as  revealed  in  certain  truths, 
and  of  these  truths  as  revealing  Him.  Therefore, 
intellectual  error  may  loose  our  hold  on  Christ,  and 
if  we  slacken  that,  we  shall  forfeit  the  prize.  Mere 
speculative  interest  about  the  less  plainly  revealed 
corners  of  Christian  truth  may,  and  often  do,  act  in 
paralysing  the  limbs  of  the  Christian  athlete.  "Ye 
did  run  well,  what  hath  hindered  you  }  "  has  to  be 
asked  of  many  whom  a  spirit  akin  to  this  described 
in  our  text  has  made  languid  in  the  race.  To  us 
all,  knowing  in  some  measure  how  the  whole  sum 
of  influences  around  us  work  to  detach  us  from  our 
Lord,  and  so  to  rob  us  of  the  prize  which  is  insepar- 
able from  His  presence,  the  solemn  exhortation 
which  He  speaks  from  heaven  may  well  come, 
"  Hold  fast  that  thou  hast ;  let  no  man  take  thy 
crown." 

HI.  The  source  and  manner  of  all  true  growth  is 
next  set  forth,  in  order  to  enforce  the  warning,  and 
to  emphasize  the  need  of  holding  the  Head. 

Christ  is  not  merely  represented  supreme  and 
sovereign,  when  He  is  called  "  the  head."  The 
metaphor  goes  much  deeper,  and  points  to  Him  as 
the  source  of  a  real  spiritual  life,  from  Him  communi- 
cated to  all  the  members  of  the  true  Church,  and 
constituting  it  an  organic  whole.  We  have  found 
the  same  expression  twice  already  in  the  Epistle  ; 


Col.  ii  16-19.]  WARNINGS.  239 

once  as  applied  to  His  relation  to  "  the  body,  the 
Church  "  (i.  1 8),  and  once  in  reference  to  the  "  prin- 
cipalities and  powers."  The  errors  in  the  Colossian 
Church  derogated  from  Christ's  sole  sovereign  place 
as  fountain  of  all  life  natural  and  spiritual  for  all 
orders  of  beings,  and  hence  the  emphasis  of  the 
Apostle's  proclamation  of  the  counter  truth.  That 
life  which  flows  from  the  head  is  diffused  through 
the  whole  body  by  the  various  and  harmonious 
action  of  all  the  parts.  The  body  is  "  supplied  and 
knit  together,"  or  in  other  words,  the  functions  of 
nutrition  and  compaction  into  a  whole  are  performed 
by  the  "joints  and  bands,"  in  which  last  word  are 
included  muscles,  nerves,  tendons,  and  any  of  the 
"connecting  bands  which  strap  the  body  together." 
Their  action  is  the  condition  of  growth  ;  but  the 
Head  is  the  source  of  all  which  the  action  of  the 
members  transmits  to  the  body.  Christ  is  the 
source  of  all  nourishment.  From  Him  flows  the 
life-blood  which  feeds  the  whole,  and  by  which 
every  form  of  supply  is  ministered  whereby  the  body 
grows.  Christ  is  the  source  of  all  unity.  Churches 
have  been  bound  together  by  other  bonds,  such  as 
creeds,  polity,  or  even  nationality ;  but  that  external 
bond  is  only  like  a  rope  round  a  bundle  of  fagots, 
while  the  true,  inward  unity  springing  from  common 
possession  of  the  life  of  Christ,  is  as  the  unity  of 
some  great  tree,  through  which  the  same  sap  cir- 
culates from  massive  bole  to  the  tiniest  leaf  that 
dances  at  the  tip  of  the  farthest  branch. 

These  blessed  results  of  supply  and  unity  are 
effected  through  the  action  of  the  various  parts.  If 
each  organ  is  in  healthy  action,  the  body  grows. 
There  is  diversity  in  offices ;  the  same  life  is  light 


240  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

in  the  eyes,  beauty  in  the  cheek,  strength  in  the 
hand,  thought  in  the  brain.  The  more  you  rise  in 
the  scale  of  life  the  more  the  body  is  differentiated, 
from  the  simple  sac  that  can  be  turned  inside  out 
and  has  no  division  of  parts  or  offices,  up  to  man. 
So  in  the  Church.  The  effect  of  Christianity  is  to 
heighten  individuality,  and  to  give  each  man  his 
own  proper  "  gift  from  God,"  and  therefore  each  man 
his  office,  "  one  after  this  manner  and  another  after 
that."  Therefore  is  there  need  for  the  freest  possible 
unfolding  of  each  man's  idiosyncrasy,  heightened  and 
hallowed  by  an  indwelling  Christ,  lest  the  body 
should  be  the  poorer  if  any  member's  activity  be 
suppressed,  or  any  one  man  be  warped  from  his  own 
work  wherein  he  is  strong,  to  become  a  feeble  copy 
of  another's.  The  perfect  light  is  the  blending  of 
all  colours. 

A  community  where  each  member  thus  holds 
firmly  by  the  Head,  and  each  ministers  in  his  degree 
to  the  nourishment  and  compaction  of  the  members, 
will,  says  Paul,  increase  with  the  increase  of  God. 
The  increase  will  come  from  Him,  will  be  pleasing 
to  Him,  will  be  essentially  the  growth  of  His  own 
life  in  the  body.  There  is  an  increase  not  of  God. 
These  heretical  teachers  were  swollen  with  dropsical 
self-conceit ;  but  this  is  wholesome,  solid  growth. 
For  individuals  and  communities  of  professing  Chris- 
tians the  lesson  is  always  seasonable,  that  it  is  very 
easy  to  get  an  increase  of  the  other  kind.  The 
individual  may  increase  in  apparent  knowledge,  in 
volubility,  in  visions  and  speculations,  in  so-called 
Christian  work ;  the  Church  may  increase  in  members, 
in  wealth,  in  culture,  in  influence  in  the  world,  in 
apparent  activities,  in  subscription  lists,  and  the  Uke 


Col.  ii.  16-19.]  WARNINGS. 


— and  it  may  all  be  not  sound  growth,  but  proud 
flesh,  which  needs  the  knife.  One  way  only  there 
is  by  which  we  may  increase  with  the  increase  of 
God,  and  that  is  that  we  keep  fast  hold  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  "let  Him  not  go,  for  He  is  our  life." 
The  one  exhortation  which  includes  all  that  is 
needful,  and  which  being  obeyed,  all  ceremonies  and 
all  speculations  will  drop  into  their  right  place,  and 
become  helps,  not  snares,  is  the  exhortation  which 
Barnabas  gave  to  the  new  Gentile  converts  at 
Antioch — that  "  with  purpose  of  heart  they  should 
cleave  unto  the  Lord." 


?6 


XVI. 

TIVO  FINAL   TESTS  OF  THE  FALSE   TEACHING. 

**  If  ye  died  with  Christ  from  the  rudiraeuts  of  the  world,  why,  as 
though  living  in  the  world,  do  ye  subject  yourselves  to  ordinances. 
Handle  not,  nor  taste,  nor  touch  (all  which  things  are  to  perish  with  the 
using),  after  the  precepts  and  doctrines  of  men  ?  Which  things  have 
indeed  a  show  of  wisdom  in  will-worship,  and  humility,  and  severity  to 
the  body ;  but  are  not  of  any  value  against  the  indulgence  of  the  flesh." 
—Col.  ii.  20-23  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THE  polemical  part  of  the  Epistle  is  now 
coming  to  an  end.  We  pass  in  the  next 
chapter,  after  a  transitional  .^  ♦"^crraph,  to  simple 
moral  precepts  which,  with  perse  details,  fill  up 
the  remainder  of  the  letter.  The  antagonist  errors 
appear  for  the  last  time  in  the  words  which  we  have 
now  to  consider.  In  these  the  Apostle  seems  to 
gather  up  all  his  strength  to  strike  two  straight, 
crashing,  final  blows,  which  pulverize  and  annihilate 
the  theoretical  positions  and  practical  precepts  of  the 
heretical  teachers.  First,  he  puts  in  the  form  of  an 
unanswerable  demand  for  the  reason  for  their  teach- 
ings, their  radical  inconsistency  with  the  Christian's 
death  with  Christ,  which  is  the  very  secret  of  his  life. 
Then,  by  a  contemptuous  concession  of  their  ap- 
parent value  to  people  who  will  not  look  an  inch 
below  the  surface,  he  makes  more  emphatic  their 
final  condemnation  as  worthless — less  than  nothing 
and  vanity — for- the  suppression  of  "  the  flesh  " — the 


Col.  ii.  20-23.]  TIVO  FINAL    TESTS.  243 

only  aim  of  all  moral  and  religious  discipline.  So 
we  have  here  two  great  tests  by  their  conformity 
to  which  we  may  try  all  teachings  which  assume  to 
regulate  life,  and  all  Christian  teaching  about  the 
place  and  necessity  for  ritual  and  outward  prescrip- 
tions of  conduct.  "  Ye  are  dead  with  Christ."  All 
must  fit  in  with  that  great  fact.  "  The  restraint  and 
conquest  of  *'  the  flesh  "  is  the  purpose  of  all  religion 
and  of  all  moral  teaching — our  systems  must  do 
that  or  they  are  naught,  however  fascinating  they 
may  be. 

I.  We  have  then  to  consider  the  great  fact  of  the 
Christian's  death  with  Christ,  and  to  apply  it  as  a 
touchstone. 

The  language  of  the  Apostle  points  to  a  definite 
time  when  the  Colossian  Christians  "died"  with  Christ. 
That  carries  us  back  to  former  words  in  the  chapter, 
where,  as  we  foi'  ''  ^the  period  of  their  baptism 
considered  as  tn.  Symbol  and  profession  of  their 
conversion,  was  regarded  as  the  time  of  their  burial. 
They  died  with  Christ  when  they  clave  with  penitent 
trust  to  the  truth  that  Christ  died  for  them.  When 
a  man  unites  himself  by  faith  to  the  dying  Christ  as 
his  Peace,  Pardon,  and  Saviour,  then  he  too  in  a 
very  real  sense  dies  with  Jesus. 

That  thought  that  every  Christian  is  dead  with 
Christ,  runs  through  the  whole  of  Paul's  teaching. 
It  is  no  mere  piece  of  mysticism  on  his  lips,  though 
it  has  often  become  so,  when  divorced  from  morality, 
as  it  has  been  by  some  Christian  teachers.  It  is  no 
mere  piece  of  rhetoric,  though  it  has  often  become 
so,  when  men  have  lost  the  true  thought  of  what 
Christ's  death  is  for  the  world.  But  to  Paul  the 
cross  of  Christ  was,  first  and  foremost,  the  altar  of 


244  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 

sacrifice  on  which  the  oblation  had  been  offered  that 
took  away  all  his  guilt  and  sin  ;  and  then,  because 
it  was  that,  it  became  the  law  of  his  own  life,  and 
the  power  that  assimilated  him  to  his  Lord. 

The  plain  English  of  it  all  is,  that  when  a  man 
becomes  a  Christian  by  putting  his  trust  in  Christ 
Who  died,  as  the  ground  of  his  acceptance  and  salva- 
tion, such  a  change  takes  place  upon  his  whole 
nature  and  relationship  to  externals  as  is  fairly  com- 
parable to  a  death. 

The  same  illustration  is  frequent  in  ordinary 
speech.  What  do  we  mean  when  we  talk  of  an  old 
man  being  dead  to  youthful  passions  or  follies  or 
ambitions  ?  We  mean  that  they  have  ceased  to 
interest  him,  that  he  is  separated  from  them  and 
insensible  to  them.  Death  is  the  separator.  What 
an  awful  gulf  there  is  between  that  fixed  white  face 
beneath  the  sheet,  and  all  the  things  about  which  the 
man  was  so  eager  an  hour  ago  !  How  impossible 
for.  any  cries  of  love  to  pass  the  chasm  !  "His 
sons  come  to  honour,  and  he  knoweth  it  not."  The 
"  business "  which  filled  his  thoughts,  crumbles  to 
pieces,  and  he  cares  not.  Nothing  reaches  him  or 
interests  him  any  more.  So,  if  we  have  got  hold  ot 
Christ  as  our  Saviour,  and  have  found  in  His  cross 
the  anchor  of  souls,  that  experience  will  deaden  us 
to  all  which  was  our  life,  and  the  measure  in  which 
we  are  joined  to  Jesus  by  our  faith  in  His  great 
sacrifice,  will  be  the  measure  in  which  we  are 
detached  from  our  former  selves,  and  from  old 
objects  of  interest  and  pursuit.  The  change  may 
cither  be  called  dying  with  Christ,  or  rising  with 
Him.  The  one  phrase  takes  hold  of  it  at  an  earlier 
stage  than  the  other ;  the  one   puts   stress  on   our 


Col.  ii.  20-23-]  TIVO  FINAL   TESTS.  245 

ceasing  to  be  what  we  were,  the  other  on  our 
beginning  to  be  what  we  were  not.  So  our  text  is 
followed  by  a  paragraph  corresponding  in  form  and 
substance,  and  beginning,  "  If  ye  then  be  risen  with 
Christ,"  as  this  begins,  "  If  ye  died  with  Christ !  " 

Such  detachment  from  externals  and  separation 
from  a  former  self  is  not  unknown  in  ordinary  life. 
Strong  emotion  of  any  kind  makes  us  insensible  to 
things  around,  and  even  to  physical  pain.  Many  a 
man  with  the  excitement  of  the  battle-field  boiling 
in  his  brain,  "  receives  but  recks  not  of  a  wound." 
Absorption  of  thought  and  interest  leads  to  what  is 
called  "absence  of  mind,"  where  the  surroundings 
are  entirely  unfelt,  as  in  the  case  of  the  saint  who 
rode  all  day  on  the  banks  of  the  Swiss  lake,  plunged 
in  theological  converse,  and  at  evening  asked  where 
the  lake  was,  though  its  waves  had  been  rippling  for 
twenty  miles  at  his  mule's  feet.  Higher  tastes  drive 
out  lower  ones,  as  some  great  stream  turned  into  a 
new  channel  will  sweep  it  clear  of  mud  and  rubbish. 
So,  if  we  are  joined  to  Christ,  He  will  fill  our  souls 
with  strong  emotions  and  interests  which  will  deaden 
our  sensitiveness  to  things  around  us,  and  will  inspire 
new  loves,  tastes  and  desires,  which  will  make  us 
indifferent  to  much  that  we  used  to  be  eager  about, 
and  hostile  to  much  that  we  once  cherished. 

To  what  shall  we  die  if  we  are  Christians  }  The 
Apostle  answers  that  question  in  various  ways, 
which  we  may  profitably  group  together.  "  Reckon 
ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin " 
(Rom.  vi.  11).  "Hs  died  for  all,  that  they  which 
live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves "  (2  Cor. 
V.  14,  15).  "Ye  are  become  dead  to  the  law** 
(Rom.  vii.  6),     By  the  cross  of  Christ,  "  the  world 


246  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

hath  been  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  worlds 
So  then,  to  the  whole  mass  of  outward  material 
things,  all  this  present  order  which  surrounds  us,  to 
the  unrenounced  self  which  has  ruled  us  so  long, 
and  to  the  sin  which  results  from  the  appeals  of 
outward  things  to  that  evil  self — to  these,  and  to 
the  mere  outward  letter  of  a  commandment  which  is 
impotent  to  enforce  its  own  behests  or  deliver  self 
from  the  snares  of  the  world  and  the  burden  of  sin, 
we  cease  to  belong  in  the  measure  in  which  we  are 
Christ's.  The  separation  is  not  complete  ;  but,  if 
we  are  Christians  at  all,  it  is  begun,  and  hence- 
forward our  life  is  to  be  a  "  dying  daily."  It  must 
either  be  a  dying  life  or  a  living  death.  We  shall 
still  belong  in  our  outward  being — and,  alas  !  far 
too  much  in  heart  also — to  the  world  and  self  and 
sin — but,  if  we  are  Christians  at  all,  there  will  be  a 
real  separation  from  these  in  the  inmost  heart  of  our 
hearts,  and  the  germ  of  entire  deliverance  from  them 
all  will  be  in  us. 

This  day  needs  that  truth  to  be  strongly  urged. 
The  whole  meaning  of  the  death  of  Christ  is  not 
reached  when  it  is  regarded  as  the  great  propitiation 
for  our  sins.  Is  it  the  pattern  for  our  lives  t  has  it 
drawn  us  away  from  our  love  of  the  world,  from  our 
sinful  self,  from  the  temptations  to  sin,  from  cowering 
before  duties  which  we  hate  but  dare  not  neglect  ? 
has  it  changed  the  current  of  our  lives,  and  lifted  us 
into  a  new  region  where  we  find  new  interests,  loves 
and  aims,  before  which  the  twinkling  lights,  which 
once  were  stars  to  us,  pale  their  ineffectual  fires } 
If  so,  then,  just  in  as  much  as  it  is  so,  and  not 
one  hair's  brea/lth  the  more,  may  we  call  ourselves 
Christians.     If  not,  it  is  of  no  use  for  us  to  talk 


Col.  ii.  20-23.]  ^^0  FINAL   7'£STS.  247 

about  looking  to  the  cross  as  the  source  of  our 
salvation.  Such  a  look,  if  it  be  true  and  genuine, 
will  certainly  change  all  a  man's  tastes,  habits, 
aspirations,  and  relationships.  If  we  know  nothing 
of  dying  with  Christ,  it  is  to  be  feared  we  know  as 
little  of  Christ's  dying  for  us. 

This  great  fact  of  the  Christian's  death  with 
Christ  comes  into  view  here  mainly  as  pointing  the 
contradiction  between  the  Christian's  position,  and 
his  subjection  to  the  prescriptions  and  prohibitions  of 
a  religion  which  consists  chiefly  in  petty  rules  about 
conduct.  We  are  "  dead "  says  Paul,  "  to  the  ru- 
diments of  the  world," — a  phrase  which  we  have 
already  heard  in  verse  8  of  this  chapter,  where  we 
found  its  meaning  to  be  "  precepts  of  an  elementary 
character,  fit  for  babes,  not  for  men  in  Christ,  and 
moving  principally  in  the  region  of  the  material.'* 
It  implies  a  condemnation  of  all  such  regulation 
religion  on  the  two  grounds,  that  it  is  an  anachronism, 
seeking  to  perpetuate  an  earlier  stage  which  has  been 
left  behind,  and  that  it  has  to  do  with  the  outsides  of 
things,  with  the  material  and  visible  only.  To  such 
rudiments  we  are  dead  with  Christ.  Then,  queries 
Paul,  with  irresistible  triumphant  question — why,  in 
the  name  of  consistency,  "  do  you  subject  yourself 
to  ordinances  "  (of  which  we  have  already  heard  in 
verse  1 4  of  the  chapter)  such  as  "  handle  not,  nor 
taste,  nor  touch } "  These  three  prohibitions  are 
not  Paul's,  but  are  quoted  by  him  as  specimens  of 
the  kind  of  rules  and  regulations  which  he  is  pro- 
testing against.  The  ascetic  teachers  kept  on 
vehemently  reiterating  their  prohib.'tions,  and  as  the 
correct  rendering  of  the  words  shows,  with  a 
constantly  increasing    intolerance.      "  Handle    not " 


248  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

is  a  less  rigid  prohibition  than  "  touch  not."  The 
first  says,  Do  not  lay  hold  of ;  the  last  Do  not  even 
touch  with  the  tip  of  your  finger.  So  asceticism, 
like  many  another  tendency  and  habit,  grows  by 
indulgence,  and  demands  abstinence  ever  more  rigid 
and  separation  ever  more  complete.  And  the  whole 
thing  is  out  of  date,  and  a  misapprehension  of  the 
genius  of  Christianity.  Man's  work  in  religion  is 
ever  to  confine  it  to  the  surface,  to  throw  it 
outward  and  make  it  a  mere  round  of  things  done 
and  things  abstained  from.  Christ's  work  in  religion 
is  to  drive  it  inwards,  and  to  focus  all  its  energy  on 
"  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,"  knowing  that  if  that 
be  right,  the  visible  will  come  right.  It  is  waste 
labour  to  try  to  stick  figs  on  the  prickles  of  a  thorn 
bush — as  is  the  tree,  so  will  be  the  fruit.  There  are 
plenty  of  pedants  and  martinets  in  religion  as  well 
as  on  the  parade  ground.  There  must  be  so  many 
buttons  on  the  uniform,  and  the  shoulder  belts  must 
be  pipe-clayed,  and  the  rifles  on  the  shoulders 
sloped  at  just  such  an  angle — and  then  all  will  be 
right.  Perhaps  so.  Disciplined  courage  is  better 
than  courage  undisciplined.  But  there  is  much 
danger  of  all  the  attention  being  given  to  drill,  and 
then,  when  the  parade  ground  is  exchanged  for  the 
battle-field,  disaster  comes  because  there  is  plenty  of 
etiquette  and  no  dash.  Men's  lives  are  pestered  out 
of  them  by  a  religion  which  tries  to  tie  them  down 
with  as  many  tiny  threads  as  those  with  which  the 
Liliputians  fastened  down  Gulliver.  But  Christianity 
in  its  true  and  highest  forms  is  not  a  religion  of 
prescriptions  but  of  ^principles.  It  does  not  keep 
perpetually  dinning  a  set  of  petty  commandments 
and  prohibitions  into  our  ears.      Its  language  is  not 


Col.  ii.  20-23.]  TWO  FINAL    TESTS.  249 

a  continual  "  Do  this,  forbear  from  that," — but 
"  Love,  and  thou  fulfillest  the  law."  It  works  from 
the  centre  outwards  to  the  circumference  ;  first 
making  clean  the  inside  of  the  platter,  and  so 
ensuring  that  the  outside  shall  be  clean  also.  The 
error  with  which  Paul  fought,  and  which  perpetually 
crops  up  anew,  having  its  roots  deep  in  human 
nature,  begins  with  the  circumference  and  wastes 
effort  in  burnishing  the  outside. 

The  parenthesis  which  follows  in  the  text,  **all 
which  things  are  to  perish  with  the  using,"  contains 
an  incidental  remark  intended  to  show  the  mistake 
of  attaching  such  importance  to  regulations  about 
diet  and  the  like,  from  the  consideration  of  the 
perishableness  of  these  meats  and  drinks  about  which 
so  much  was  said  by  the  false  teachers.  "  They 
are  all  destined  for  corruption,  for  physical  decom- 
position— in  the  very  act  of  consumption."  You 
cannot  use  them  without  using  them  up.  They  are 
destroyed  in  the  very  moment  of  being  used.  Is  it 
fitting  for  men  who  have  died  with  Christ  to  this 
fleeting  world,  to  make  so  much  of  its  perishable 
things  ? 

May  we  not  widen  this  thought  beyond  its  specific 
application  here,  and  say  that  death  with  Christ  to 
the  world  should  deliver  us  from  the  temptation  of 
making  much  of  the  things  which  perish  with  the 
using,  whether  that  temptation  is  presented  in  the 
form  of  attaching  exaggerated  religious  importance 
to  ascetic  abstinence  from  them  or  in  that  of 
exaggerated  regard  and  unbridled  use  of  them  t 
Asceticism  and  Sybaritic  luxury  have  in  common 
an  over-estimate  of  the  importance  of  the  material 
things.     The  one  is   the  other  turned    inside  out. 


2SO  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS, 

Dives  in  his  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  the  ascetic 
in  his  hair  shirt,  both  make  too  much  of  "  what  they 
shall  put  on."  The  one  with  his  feasts  and  the 
other  with  his  fasts  both  think  too  much  of  what 
they  shall  eat  and  drink.  A  man  who  lives  on  high 
with  his  Lord  puts  all  these  things  in  their  right 
place.  There  are  things  which  do  not  perish  with 
the  using,  but  grow  with  use,  like  the  five  loaves  in 
Christ's  hands.  Truth,  love,  holiness,  all  Christ-like 
graces  and  virtues  increase  with  exercise,  and  the 
more  we  feed  on  the  bread  which  comes  down  from 
heaven,  the  more  shall  we  have  for  our  own  nourish- 
ment and  for  our  brother's  need.  There  is  a  treasure 
which  faiieth  not,  bags  which  wax  not  old,  the 
durable  riches  and  undecaying  possessions  of  the 
soul  that  lives  on  Christ  and  grows  like  Him. 
These  let  us  seek  after  ;  for  if  our  religion  be  worth 
anything  at  all,  it  should  carry  us  past  all  the 
fleeting  wealth  of  earth  straight  into  the  heart  of 
things,  and  give  us  for  our  portion  that  God  whom 
we  can  never  exhaust,  nor  outgrow,  but  possess  the 
more  as  we  use  His  sweetness  for  the  solace,  and 
His  all-sufficient  Being  for  the  good,  of  our  souls. 

The  final  inconsistency  between  the  Christian 
position  and  the  practical  errors  in  question  is 
glanced  at  in  the  words  "after  the  commandments 
and  doctrines  of  men,"  which  refer,  of  course,  to 
the  ordinances  of  which  Paul  is  speaking.  The 
expression  is  a  quotation  from  Isaiah's  (xxix.  13) 
denunciation  of  the  Pharisees  of  his  day,  and  as 
used  here  seems  to  suggest  that  our  Lord's  great 
discourse  on  the  worthlessness  of  the  Jewish 
punctilios  about  meats  and  drinks  was  in  the 
Apostle's    mind,  since    the    same  words    of   Isaiah 


Col.  ii.  20-23.]  TPFO  FINAL   TESTS.  251 

occur  there  in  a  similar  connection.  It  is  not  fitting 
that  we,  who  are  A^ithdrawn  from  dependence  on  the 
outward  visible  order  of  things  by  our  union  with 
Christ  in  His  death,  should  be  under  the  authority 
of  men.  Here  is  the  true  democracy  of  the  Christian 
society.  "  Ye  were  redeemed  with  a  price.  Be  not 
the  servants  of  men."  Our  union  to  Jesus  Christ  is 
a  union  of  absolute  authority  and  utter  submission. 
We  all  have  access  to  the  one  source  of  illumination, 
and  we  are  bound  to  take  our  orders  from  the  one 
Master.  The  protest  against  the  imposition  of  human 
authority  on  the  Christian  soul  is  made  not  in  the 
interests  of  self-will,  but  from  reverence  to  the  only 
voice  that  has  the  right  to  give  autocratic  commands 
and  to  receive  unquestioning  obedience.  We  are 
free  in  proportion  as  we  are  dead  to  the  world  with 
Christ.  We  are  free  from  men  not  that  we  may 
please  ourselves,  but  that  we  may  please  Him. 
"  Hold  your  peace,  I  want  to  hear  what  my  Master 
has  to  command  me,"  is  the  language  of  the  Christian 
freedman,  who  is  free  that  he  may  serve,  and  be- 
cause he  serves. 

n.  We  have  to  consider  one  great  purpose  of  all 
teaching  and  external  worship,  by  its  power  in 
attaining  which  any  system  is  to  be  tried. 

"  Which  things  have  indeed  a  show  of  wisdom  in 
will-worship,  and  humility,  and  severity  to  the  body, 
but  are  not  of  any  value  against  the  indulgence  ot 
the  flesh."  Here  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  the  parting  summary  of  the  indictment 
against  the  whole  irritating  tangle  of  restrictions  and 
prescriptions.  From  a  moral  point  of  view  it  is 
worthless,  as  having  no  coercive  power  over  "  the 
flesh."     Therein  lies  its  concl\isive  condemnation,  for 


252  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLO  SSI  A  NS. 

if  religious  observances  do  not  help  a  man  to  subdue 
his  sinful  self,  what,  in  the  name  of  common  sense, 
is  the  use  of  them  ? 

The  Apostle  knows  very  well  that  the  system 
which  he  was  opposing  had  much  which  commended 
it  to  people,  especially  to  those  who  did  not  look 
very  deep.  It  had  a  "  show  of  wisdom  "  very  fascin- 
ating on  a  superficial  glance,  and  that  in  three  points, 
all  of  which  caught  the  vulgar  eye,  and  all  of  which 
turned  into  the  opposite  on  closer  examination". 

It  has  the  look  of  being  exceeding  devotion  and 
zealous  worship.  These  teachers  with  their  abundant 
forms  impose  upon  the  popular  imagination,  as  if 
they  were  altogether  given  up  to  devout  contem- 
plation and  prayer.  But  if  one  looks  a  little  more 
closely  at  them,  one  sees  that  their  devotion  is  the 
indulgence  of  their  own  will  and  not  surrender  to 
God's.  They  are  not  worshipping  Him  as  He  has 
appointed,  but  as  they  have  themselves  chosen,  and 
as  they  are  rendering  services  which  He  has  not 
required,  they  are  in  a  very  true  sense  worshipping 
their  own  wills,  and  not  God  at  all.  By  "will- 
worship  "  seems  to  be  meant  self-imposed  forms  of 
religious  service  which  are  the  outcome  not  of 
obedience,  nor  of  the  instincts  of  a  devout  heart,  but 
of  a  man's  own  will.  And  the  Apostle  implies  that 
such  supererogatory  and  volunteered  worship  is  no 
worship.  Whether  offered  in  a  cathedral  or  a  barn, 
whether  the  worshipper  wear  a  cope  or  a  fustian 
jacket,  such  service  is  not  accepted.  A  prayer  which 
is  but  the  expression  of  the  worshipper's  own  will, 
instead  of  being  "  not  my  will  but  Thine  be  done,'* 
reaches  no  higher  than  the  lips  that  utter  it.  If  we 
are  subtly  and  half  unconsciously  obeying  self  even 


Col.  ii.  20-23.]  TIVO  FINAL    TESTS.  253 

while  we  seem  to  be  bowing  before  God  ;  if  we  are 
seeming  to  pray,  and  are  all  the  while  burning 
incense  to  ourselves,  instead  of  being  drawn  out  of 
ourselves  by  the  beauty  and  the  glory  of  the  God 
towards  whom  our  spirits  yearn,  then  our  devotion  is 
a  mask,  and  our  prayers  will  be  dispersed  in  empty  air. 
The  deceptive  appearance  of  wisdom  in  these 
teachers  and  their  doctrines  is  further  manifest  in 
the  humility  which  felt  so  profoundly  the  gulf 
between  man  and  God  that  it  was  fain  to  fill  the 
void  with  its  fantastic  creations  of  angel  mediators. 
Humility  is  a  good  thing,  and  it  looked  very  humble 
to  say,  We  cannot  suppose  that  such  insignificant 
flesh-encompassed  creatures  as  we  can  come  into 
contact  and  fellowship  with  God  ;  but  it  was  a  great 
deal  more  humble  to  take  God  at  His  word,  and  to 
let  Him  lay  down  the  possibiHties  and  conditions 
of  intercourse,  and  to  tread  the  way  of  approach  to 
Him  which  He  has  appointed.  If  a  great  king  were 
to  say  to  all  the  beggars  and  ragged  losels  of  his 
capital.  Come  to  the  palace  to-morrow ;  which  would 
be  the  humbler,  he  who  went,  rags  and  leprosy  and 
all,  or  he  who  hung  back  because  he  was  so  keenly 
conscious  of  his  squalor  ?  God  says  to  men,  "  Come 
to  My  arms  through  My  Son.  Never  mind  the  dirt, 
come."  Which  is  the  humbler  :  he  who  takes  God 
at  His  word,  and  runs  to  hide  his  face  on  his  Father's 
breast,  having  access  to  Him  through  Christ  the 
Way,  or  he  who  will  not  venture  near  till  he  has 
found  some  other  mediators  besides  Christ  ?  A 
humility  so  profound  that  it  cannot  think  God's 
promise  and  Christ's  mediation  enough  for  it,  has 
gone  so  far  West  that  it  has  reached  the  East,  and 
from  humility  has  become  pride. 


254  THE  EPISTLE   TO  THE  COLOSSI  AN S, 

Further,  this  system  has  a  show  of  wisdom  in 
"severity  to  the  body."  Any  asceticism  is  a  great 
deal  more  to  men's  taste  than  abandoning  self. 
They  will  rather  stick  hooks  in  their  backs  and  do 
the  "swinging  poojah,"  than  give  up  their  sins  or 
yield  up  their  wills.  It  is  easier  to  travel  the  whole 
distance  from  Cape  Comorin  to  the  shrine  of  Jug- 
gernaut, measuring  every  foot  of  it  by  the  body  laid 
prostrate  in  the  dust,  than  to  surrender  the  heart  to 
the  love  of  God.  In  the  same  manner  the  milder 
forms  of  putting  oneself  to  pain,  hair  shirts,  scourg- 
ings,  abstinence  from  pleasant  things  with  the  notion 
that  thereby  merit  is  acquired,  or  sin  atoned  for, 
have  a  deep  root  in  human  nature,  and  hence  "a 
show  of  wisdom."  It  is  strange,  and  yet  not  strange, 
that  people  should  think  that,  somehow  or  other, 
they  recommend  themselves  to  God  by  making 
themselves  uncomfortable,  but  so  it  is  that  religion 
presents  itself  to  many  minds  mainly  as  a  system  of 
restrictions  and  injunctions  which  forbids  the  agree- 
able and  commands  the  unpleasant.  So  does  our 
poor  human  nature  vulgarise  and  travesty  Christ's 
solemn  command  to  deny  ourselves  and  take  up  our 
cross  after  Him. 

The  conclusive  condemnation  of  all  the  crowd 
of  punctilious  restrictions  of  which  the  Apostle  has, 
been  speaking  lies  in  the  fact  that,  however  they 
may  correspond  to  men's  mistaken  notions,  and  so 
seem  to  be  the  dictate  of  wisdom,  they  "  are  not  of 
any  value  against  the  indulgence  of  the  flesh."  This 
is  one  great  end  of  all  moral  and  spiritual  discipline, 
and  if  practical  regulations  do  not  tend  to  secure  it, 
they  are  worthless. 

Of  course  by  "  flesh  "  here  we  are  to  understand, 


Col. ii. 20-23-]  T^VO  FINAL    TESTS.  255 

as  usually  in  the  Pauline  Epistles,  not  merely  the 
body  but  the  whole  unregenerate  personality,  the 
entire  unrenewed  self  that  thinks  and  feels  and  wills 
and  desires  apart  from  God.  To  indulge  and  satisfy 
it  is  to  die,  to  slay  and  suppress  it  is  to  live.  All 
these  "  ordinances  "  with  which  the  heretical  teachers 
were  pestering  the  Colossians,  have  no  power,  Paul 
thinks,  to  keep  that  self  down,  and  therefore  they 
seem  to  him  so  much  rubbish.  He  thus  lifts  the 
whole  question  up  to  a  higher  level  and  implies  a 
standard  for  judging  much  formal  outward  Chris- 
tianity which  would  make  very  short  work  of  it. 

A  man  may  be  keeping  the  whole  round  of  them 
and  seven  devils  may  be  in  his  heart.  They  dis- 
tinctly tend  to  foster  some  of  the  "works  of  the 
flesh,"  such  as  self-righteousness,  uncharitableness, 
censoriousness,  and  they  as  distinctly  altogether  fail 
to  subdue  any  of  them.  A  man  may  stand  on  a 
pillar  like  Simeon  Stylites  for  years,  and  be  none 
the  better.  Historically,  the  ascetic  tendency  has 
not  been  associated  with  the  highest  types  of  real 
saintliness  except  by  accident,  and  has  never  been 
their  productive  cause.  The  bones  rot  as  surely 
inside  the  sepulchre  though  the  whitewash  on  its 
dome  be  ever  so  thick. 

So  the  world  and  the  flesh  are  very  willing  that 
Christianity  should  shrivel  into  a  religion  of  pro- 
hibitions and  ceremonials,  because  all  manner  of 
vices  and  meannesses  may  thrive  and  breed  under 
these,  like  scorpions  under  stones.  There  is  only 
one  thing  that  will  put  the  collar  on  the  neck  of 
the  animal  within  us,  and  that  is  the  power  of  the 
indwelling  Christ.  The  evil  that  is  in  us  all  is  too 
strong  for  every  other  fetter.      Its  cry  to  all  these 


256  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS. 

"  commandments  and  ordinances  of  men  "  is,  "  Jesus 
I  know,  and  Paul  I  know,  but  who  are  ye  ? "  Not 
in  obedience  to  such,  but  in  the  reception  into  our 
spirits  of  His  own  life,  is  our  power  of  victory  over 
self.  "  This  I  say,  Walk  in  the  Spirit,  and  ye  shall 
not  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  flesh." 


XVII. 

THE   PRESENT -CHRISTIAN  LIFE,    A    RISEN  LIFE, 

"  If  then  ye  were  raised  together  with  Christ,  seek  the  things  that 
are  above,  where  Christ  is,  seated  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  Set  your 
mind  on  the  things  that  are  above,  not  on  the  things  that  are  upon  the 
earth.  For  ye  died,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  When 
Christ,  Who  is  our  life,  shall  be  manifested,  then  shall  ye  also  with  Hirri 
be  manifested  in  glory." — CoL.  iii.  1-4  (Rev.  Ver.). 

WE  have  now  done  with  controversy.  We 
hear  no  more  about  heretical  teachers.  The 
Apostle  has  cut  his  way  through  the  tangled 
thickets  of  error,  and  has  said  his  say  as  to  the 
positive  truths  with  which  he  would  hew  them  down. 
For  the  remainder  of  the  letter,  we  have  principally 
plain  practical  exhortations,  and  a  number  of  interest- 
ing personal  details. 

The  paragraph  which  we  have  now  to  consider  is 
the  transition  from  the  controversial  to  the  ethical 
portion  of  the  Epistle.  It  touches  the  former  by  its 
first  words,  "  If  ye  then  were  raised  together  with 
Christ,"  which  correspond  in  form  and  refer  in 
meaning  to  the  beginning  of  the  previous  paragraph, 
*'  If  ye  died  xvith  Christ."  It  touches  the  latter 
because  it  embodies  the  broad  general  precept, 
"  Seek  the  things  that  are  above,"  of  which  the 
following  practical  directions  are  but  varyisg  appli- 
cations in  different  spheres  of  duty. 

17 


258  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

In  considering  these  words  we  must  begin  by- 
endeavouring  to  put  clearly  their  connection  and 
substance.  As  they  flew  from  Paul's  eager  lips, 
motive  and  precept,  symbol  and  fact,  the  present 
and  future  are  blended  together.  It  may  conduce 
to  clearness  if  we  try  to  part  these  elements. 

There  are  here  two  similar  exhortations,  side  by 
side.  "  Seek  the  things  that  are  above,"  and  "  Set 
your  mind  on  the  things  that  are  above."  The 
first  is  preceded^  and  the  second  is  followed  by  its 
reason.  So  the  two  laws  of  conduct  are,  as  it  were, 
enclosed  like  a  kernel  in  its  shell,  or  a  jewel  in 
a  gold  setting,  by  encompassing  motives.  These 
considerations,  in  which  the  commandment  are  im- 
bedded, are  the  double  thought  of  union  with 
Christ  in  His  resurrection,  and  in  His  death,  and 
as  consequent  thereon,  participation  in  His  present 
hidden  life,  and  in  His  future  glorious  manifestation. 
So  we  have  here  the  present  budding  life  of  the 
Christian  in  union  with  the  risen,  hidden  Christ  ;  the 
future  consummate  flower  of  the  Christian  life  in 
union  with  the  glorious  manifested  Christ ;  and  the 
practical  aim  and  direction  which  alone  is  consistent 
with  either  bud  or  flower. 

I.  The  present  budding  life  of  the  Christian  in 
union  with  the  risen,  hidden  Christ. 

Two  aspects  of  this  life  are  set  forth  in  verses  i 
and  3 — "  raised  with  Christ,"  and  "  ye  died,  and 
your  life  is  hid  with  Christ."  A  still  profounder 
thought  lies  in  the  words  of  verse  4,  "  Christ  is  our 
life" 

We  have  seen  in  former  parts  of  this  Epistle  that 
Paul  believed  that,  when  a  man  puts  His  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  he  is  joined    to    Him  in  such  a  way 


Col.m.i-4.]     THE  PRESENT  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  259 

that  he  is  separated  from  his  former  self  and  dead 
to  the  world.  That  great  change  may  be  considered 
either  with  reference  to  what  the  man  has  ceased 
to  be,  or  with  reference  to  what  he  becomes.  In 
the  one  aspect,  it  is  a  death  ;  in  the  other,  it  is 
a  resurrection.  It  depends  on  the  point  of  view 
whether  a  semicircle  seems  convex  or  concave.  The 
two  thoughts  express  substantially  the  same  fact. 
That  great  change  was  brought  about  in  these 
Colossian  Christians,  at  a  definite  time,  as  the 
language  shows  ;  and  by  a  definite  means — namely, 
by  union  with  Christ  through  faith,  which  grasps 
His  death  and  resurrection  as  at  once  the  ground  of 
salvation,  the  pattern  for  life,  and  the  prophecy  of 
glory.  So  then,  the  great  truths  here  are  these  ;  the 
impartation  of  life  by  union  with  Christ,  which  life 
is  truly  a  resurrection  life,  and  is,  moreover,  hidden 
with  Christ  in  God. 

Union  with  Christ  by  faith  is  the  condition  of  a 
real  communication  of  life.  "  In  Him  was  life,"  says 
John's  Gospel,  meaning  thereby  to  assert,  in  the 
language  of  our  Epistle,  that  "in  Him  were  all 
things  created,  and  in  Him  all  things  consist."  Life 
in  all  its  forms  is  dependent  on  union  in  varying 
manner  with  the  Divine,  and  upheld  only  by  His 
continual  energy.  The  creature  must  touch  God  or 
perish.  Of  that  energy  the  Uncreated  Word  of  God 
is  the  channel — "  with  Thee  is  the  fountain  of  life." 
As  the  life  of  the  body,  so  the  higher  self-conscious 
life  of  the  thinking,  feeling,  striving  soul,  is  also  fed 
and  kept  alight  by  the  perpetual  operation  of  a 
higher  Divine  energy,  imparted  in  like  manner  by 
the  Divine  Word.  Therefore,  with  deep  truth,  the 
psalm  just  quoted,  goes  on  to  say,  "  In   Thy  light 


25o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

shall  we  see  light" — and  therefore,  too,  John's  Gospel 
continues  :  "  And  the  life  was  the  light  of  men." 

But  there  is  a  still  higher  plane  on  which  life  may 
be  manifested,  and  nobler  energies  which  may  accom- 
pany it.  The  body  may  live,  and  mind  and  heart 
be  dead.  Therefore  Scripture  speaks  of  a  threefold 
life:  that  of  the  animal  nature,  that  of  the  intellectual 
and  emotional  nature,  and  that  of  the  spirit,  which 
lives  when  it  is  conscious  of  God,  and  touches  Him 
by  aspiration,  hope,  and  love.  This  is  the  loftiest 
life.  Without  it,  a  man  is  dead  while  he  lives.  With 
it,  he  lives  though  he  dies.  And  like  the  others,  it 
depends  on  union  with  the  Divine  life  as  it  is  stored 
in  Jesus  Christ — but  in  this  case,  the  union  is  a 
conscious  union  by  faith.  If  I  trust  to  Him,  and 
am  thereby  holding  firmly  by  Him,  my  union  with 
Him  is  so  real,  that,  in  the  measure  of  my  faith.  His 
fulness  passes  over  into  my  emptiness.  His  righteous- 
ness into  my  sinfulness,  His  life  into  my  death,  as 
surely  as  the  electric  shock  thrills  my  nerves  when  I 
grasp  the  poles  of  the  battery. 

No  man  can  breathe  into  another's  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life.  But  Christ  can  and  does  breathe 
His  life  into  us  ;  and  this  true  miracle  of  a  com- 
munication of  spiritual  life  takes  place  in  every  man 
who  humbly  trusts  himself  to  Him.  So  the  question 
comes  home  to  each  of  us — am  I  living  by  my 
union  with  Christ }  do  I  draw  from  Him  that  better 
being  which  He  is  longing  to  pour  into  my  withered, 
dead  spirit  1  It  is  not  enough  to  live  the  animal  life  ; 
the  more  it  is  fed,  the  more  are  the  higher  lives 
starved  and  dwindled.  It  is  not  enough  to  live  the  life 
of  intellect  and  feeling.  That  may  be  in  brightest, 
keenest  exercise,  and  yet  we — our  best  selves — may 


CoLiii.  i'4-]     THE  PRESENT  CHRISTIAN  LIFE,  261 

be  dead — separated  from  God  in  Christ,  and  there- 
fore dead — and  all  our  activity  may  be  but  as  a 
galvanic  twitching  of  the  muscles  in  a  corpse.  Is 
Christ  our  life,  its  source,  its  strength,  its  aim,  its 
motive  ?  Do  we  live  in  Him,  by  Him,  with  Him, 
for  Him  ?      If  not,  we  are  dead  while  we  live. 

This  life  from  Christ  is  a  resurrection  life.  "  The 
power  of  Christ's  resurrection  "  is  threefold — as  a 
seal  of  His  mission  and  Messiahship,  "declared  to 
be  the  Son  of  God,  by  His  resurrection  from  the 
dead  ;  "  as  a  prophecy  and  pledge  of  ours,  "  now 
is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  become  the  first- 
fruits  of  them  that  slept ; "  and  as  a  symbol  and 
pattern  of  our  new  life  of  Christian  consecration, 
"  likewise  reckon  ye  also  yourselves  to  be  indeed 
dead  unto  sin."  This  last  use  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  is  a  plain  witness  of  the  firm,  universal  and 
uncontested  belief  in  the  historical  fact,  throughout 
the  Churches  which  Paul  addressed.  The  fact  must 
have  been  long  familiar  and  known  as  undoubted, 
before  it  could  have  been  thus  moulded  into  a 
symbol.  But,  passing  from  that,  consider  that  our 
union  to  Christ  produces  a  moral  and  spiritual  change 
analogous  to  His  resurrection.  After  all,  it  is  the 
moral  and  not  the  mystical  side  which  is  the  main 
thing  in  Paul's  use  of  this  thought.  He  would 
insist,  that  all  true  Christianity  operates  a  death  to 
the  old  self,  to  sin  and  to  the  whole  present  order 
of  things,  and  endows  a  man  with  new  tastes,  desires 
and  capacities,  like  a  resurrection  to  a  new  being. 
These  heathen  converts — picked  from  the  filthy  cess- 
pools in  which  many  of  them  had  been  living,  and  set 
on  a  pure  path,  with  the  astounding  light  of  a  Divine 
love  flooding  it,  and  a  bright  hope  painted  on  the 


262  THE  EPISTLE   10   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

infinite  blackness  ahead — had  surely  passed  into  a 
new  life.  Many  a  man  in  this  day,  long  familiar 
with  Christian  teaching,  has  found  himself  made 
over  again  in  mature  life,  when  his  heart  has  grasped 
Christ.  Drunkards,  profligates,  outcasts,  have  found 
it  life  from  the  dead  ;  and  even  where  there  has  not 
been  such  complete  visible  revolution  as  in  them, 
there  has  been  such  deep-seated  central  alteration 
that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  call  it  resurrection. 
The  plain  fact  is  that  real  Christianity  in  a  man 
will  produce  in  him  a  radical  moral  change.  If  our 
religion  does  not  do  that  in  us,  it  is  nothing.  Cere- 
monial and  doctrine  are  but  means  to  an  end — 
making  us  better  men.  The  highest  purpose  of 
Christ's  work,  for  which  He  both  "  died  and  rose 
and  revived,"  is  to  change  us  into  the  likeness  of 
His  own  beauty  of  perfect  purity.  That  risen  life 
is  no  mere  exaggeration  of  mystical  rhetoric,  but  an 
imperative  demand  of  the  highest  morality,  and  the 
plain  issue  of  it  is  :  "  Let  not  sin  therefore  reign  in 
your  mortal  body."  Do  I  say  that  I  am  a  Christian  ? 
The  test  by  which  my  claim  must  be  tried  is  the 
likeness  of  my  life  here  to  Him  who  has  died  unto 
sin,  and  liveth  unto  God. 

But  the  believing  soul  is  risen  with  Christ  also, 
inasmuch  as  our  union  with  Him  makes  us  partakers 
of  His  resurrection  as  our  victory  over  death.  The 
water  in  the  reservoir  and  in  the  fountain  is  the 
same  ;  the  sunbeam  in  the  chamber  and  in  the  sky 
are  one.  The  life  which  flows  into  our  spirits  from 
Christ  is  a  life  that  has  conquered  death,  and  makes 
us  victors  in  that  last  conflict,  even  though  we  have 
to  go  down  into  the  darkness.  If  Christ  live  in  us, 
we  can  never  die.     "  It  is  not  possible  that  we  should 


Col.iii.  1-4-]     THE  PRESENT  CHRISTIAN  LIFE,  263 

be  holdcn  of  //."  The  bands  which  He  broke  can 
never  be  fastened  on  our  limbs.  The  gates  of  death 
were  so  warped  and  the  locks  so  spoiled  when  He 
burst  them  asunder,  that  they  can  never  be  closed 
again.  There  are  many  arguments  for  a  future  life 
beyond  the  grave,  but  there  is  only  one  proof  of  it — the 
Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  So,  trusting  in  Him, 
and  with  our  souls  bound  in  the  bundle  of  life  with 
our  Lord  the  King,  we  can  cherish  quiet  thankfulness 
of  heart,  and  bless  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
who  hath  begotten  us  again  into  a  lively  hope  by 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead. 

This  risen  life  is  a  hidden  life.  Its  roots  are  in 
Him.  He  has  passed  in  His  ascension  into  the  light 
which  is  inaccessible,  and  is  hidden  in  its  blaze,  bear- 
ing with  Him  our  life,  concealed  there  with  Him  in 
God.  Faith  stands  gazing  into  heaven,  as  the 
cloud,  the  visible  manifestation  from  of  old  of  the 
Divine  presence,  hides  Him  from  sight,  and  turns 
away  feeling  that  the  best  part  of  its  true  self  is  gone 
with  Him.  So  here  Paul  points  his  finger  upwards 
to  where  "  Christ  is,  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,"  and  says — We  are  here  in  outward  seeming, 
but  our  true  life  is  there,  if  we  are  His.  And  what 
majestic,  pregnant  words  these  are  !  How  full,  and 
yet  how  empty  for  a  prurient  curiosity,  and  how 
reverently  reticent  even  while  they  are  triumphantly 
confident !  How  gently  they  suggest  repose — deep 
and  unbroken,  and  yet  full  of  active  energy  !  For 
if  the  attitude  imply  rest,  the  locality — "at  the  right 
hand  of  God  " — expresses  not  only  the  most  intimate 
approach  to,  but  also  the  wielding  of  the  Divine 
omnipotence.  What  is  the  right  hand  of  God  but 
the  activity  of  His  power  ?  and   what  less  can  be 


264  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CO  LOSS  I  A  NS. 

ascribed  to  Christ  here,  than  His  being  enthroned 
in  closest  union  with  the  Father,  exercising  Divine 
dominion,  and  putting  forth  Divine  power.  No 
doubt  the  ascended  and  glorified  bodily  manhood  of 
Jesus  Christ  has  a  local  habitation,  but  the  old  psalm 
might  teach  us  that  wherever  space  is,  even  there 
"  Thy  right  hand  upholds,"  and  there  is  our  ascended 
Lord,  sitting  as  in  deepest  rest,  but  working  all  the 
work  of  God.  And  it  is  just  because  He  is  at  the 
right  hand  of  God  that  He  is  hid.  The  light  hides. 
He  has  been  lost  to  sight  in  the  glory. 

He  has  gone  in  thither,  bearing  with  Him  the 
true  source  and  root  of  our  lives  into  the  secret  place 
of  the  Most  High.  Therefore  we  no  longer  belong 
to  this  visible  order  of  things  in  the  midst  of  which 
we  tarry  for  a  while.  The  true  spring  that  feeds 
our  lives  lies  deep  beneath  all  the  surface  waters. 
These  may  dry  up,  but  it  will  flow.  These  may  be 
muddied  with  rain,  but  it  will  be  limpid  as  ever. 
The  things  seen  do  not  go  deep  enough  to  touch 
our  real  life.  They  are  but  as  the  winds  that  fret, 
and  the  currents  that  sway  the  surface  and  shallower 
levels  of  the  ocean,  while  the  great  depths  are  still. 
The  circumference  is  all  a  whirl ;  the  centre  is  at  rest. 

Nor  need  we  leave  out  of  sight,  though  it  be  not 
the  main  thought  here,  that  the  Christian  life  is 
hidden,  inasmuch  as  here  on  earth  action  ever  falls 
short  of  thought,  and  the  love  and  faith  by  which  a 
good  man  lives  can  never  be  fully  revealed  in  his 
conduct  and  character.  You  cannot  carry  electricity 
from  the  generator  to  the  point  where  it  is  to  work 
without  losing  two-thirds  of  it  by  the  way.  Neither 
word  nor  deed  can  adequately  set  forth  a  soul ;  and 
the    profounder  and  nobler  the  emotion,    the  more 


Col  iii.  1-4.]     THE  PRESENT  CHRISTIAN  LIFE,  265 


inadequate  are  the  narrow  gates  of  tongue  and  hand 
to  give  it  passage.  The  deepest  love  can  often  only 
**  love  and  be  silent."  So,  while  every  man  is  truly 
a  mystery  to  his  neighbour,  a  life  which  is  rooted  in 
Christ  is  more  mysterious  to  the  ordinary  eye  than 
any  other.  It  is  fed  by  hidden  manna.  It  is  re- 
plenished from  a  hidden  source.  It  is  guided  by 
other  than  the  world's  motives,  and  follows  unseen 
aims.  "  Therefore  the  world  knoweth  us  not,  be- 
cause it  knew  Him  not." 

II.  We  have  the  future  consummate  flower  of  the 
Christian  life  in  union  with  the  manifested,  glorious 
Christ. 

The  future  personal  manifestation  of  Jesus  Christ 
in  visible  glory  is,  in  the  teaching  of  all  the  New 
Testament  writers,  the  last  stage  in  the  series  of  His 
Divine  human  conditions.  As  surely  as  the  Incar- 
nation led  to  the  cross,  and  the  cross  to  the  empty 
grave,  and  the  empty  grave  to  the  throne,  so  surely 
does  the  throne  lead  to  the  coming  again  in  glory. 
And  as  with  Christ,  so  with  His  servants,  the 
manifestation  in  glory  is  the  certain  end  of  all  the 
preceding,  as  surely  as  the  flov/er  is  of  the  tiny  green 
leaves  that  peep  above  the  frost-bound  earth  in 
bleak  March  days.  Nothing  in  that  future,  however 
glorious  and  wonderful,  but  has  its  germ  and  vital 
beginning  in  our  union  with  Christ  here  by  humble 
faith.  The  great  hopes  which  we  may  cherish  are 
gathered  up  here  into  these  words — "  shall  be 
manifested  with  Him."  That  is  far  more  than  was 
conveyed  by  the  old  translation — "  shall  appear." 
The  roots  of  our  being  shall  be  disclosed,  for  He 
shall  come,  "  and  every  eye  shall  see  Him."  We 
shall  be  seen   for  what  we   are.      The  outward   Xx'iQ 


266  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

shall  correspond  to  the  inward.  The  faith  and  love 
which  often  struggled  in  vain  for  expression  and 
were  thwarted  by  the  obstinate  flesh,  as  a  sculptor 
trying  to  embody  his  dream  might  be  by  a  block  of 
marble  with  many  a  flaw  and  speck,  shall  then  be 
able  to  reveal  themselves  completely.  Whatever  is 
in  the  heart  shall  be  fully  visible  in  the  life.  Stam- 
mering words  and  imperfect  deeds  shall  vex  us  no 
more.  "  His  name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads  " — no 
longer  only  written  in  fleshly  tables  of  the  heart  and 
partially  visible  in  the  character,  but  stamped  legibly 
and  completely  on  life  and  nature.  They  shall 
walk  in  the  light,  and  so  shall  be  seen  of  all.  Here 
the  truest  followers  of  Christ  shine  like  an  inter- 
mittent star,  seen  through  mist  and  driving  cloud  : 
"  Then  shall  the  righteous  blaze  forth  like  the  sun 
in  the  kingdom  of  My  Father." 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  manifestation  is  to  be 
"  with  Him."  The  union  which  was  here  effected 
by  faith,  and  marred  by  many  an  interposing  obstacle 
of  sin  and  selfishness,  of  flesh  and  sense,  is  to  be 
perfected  then  No  film  of  separation  is  any  more 
to  break  its  completeness.  Here  we  often  lose  our 
hold  of  Him  amidst  the  distractions  of  work,  even 
when  done  for  His  sake ;  and  our  life  is  at  best  but 
an  imperfect  compromise  between  contemplation  and 
action  ;  but  then,  according  to  that  great  saying, 
"  His  servants  shall  serve  Him,  and  see  His  face," 
the  utmost  activity  of  consecrated  service,  though  it  be 
far  more  intense  and  on  a  nobler  scale  than  anything 
here,  will  not  interfere  with  the  fixed  gaze  on  His 
countenance.  We  shall  serve  like  Martha,  and  yet 
never  remove  from  sitting  with  Mary,  rapt  and 
blessed  at  His  feet. 


Col.  iii.  1-4.]     THE  PRESENT  CHRISTIAN  LIFE,  267 

This  is  the  one  thought  of  that  solemn  future 
worth  cherishing.  Other  hopes  may  feed  sentiment, 
and  be  precious  sometimes  to  aching  hearts.  A 
reverent  longing  or  an  irreverent  curiosity,  may  seek  to 
discern  something  more  in  the  far-off  light.  But  it 
is  enough  for  the  heart  to  know  that  "  we  shall  ever 
be  with  the  Lord  ; "  and  the  more  we  have  that  one 
hope  in  its  solitary  grandeur,  the  better.  We  shall 
be  with  Him  in  "  in  glory."  That  is  the  climax  ot 
all  that  Paul  would  have  us  hope.  "  Glory  "  is  the 
splendour  and  light  of  the  self-revealing  God.  In  the 
heart  of  the  blaze  stands  Christ ;  the  bright  cloud 
enwraps  Him,  as  it  did  on  the  mountain  of  trans- 
figuration, and  into  the  dazzling  radiance  His 
disciples  will  pass  as  His  companions  did  then,  nor 
"  fear  as  they  enter  into  the  cloud."  They  walk 
unshrinking  in  that  beneficent  fire,  because  with  them 
is  one  like  unto  a  Son  of  man,  through  whom  they 
dwell,  as  in  their  own  calm  home,  amidst  "  the  ever- 
lasting burning,"  which  shall  not  destroy  them,  but 
kindle  them  into  the  likeness  of  its  own  flashing 
glory. 

Then  shall  the  life  which  here  was  but  in  bud, 
often  unkindly  nipt  and  struggling,  burst  into  the 
consummate  beauty  of  the  perfect  flower  "  which 
fadeth  not  away." 

HI.  We  have  the  practical  aim  and  direction 
which  alone  is  consistent  with  either  stage  of  the 
Christian  life. 

Two  injunctions  are  based  upon  these  consider- 
ations— "seek,"  and  "set  your  mind  upon,"  the 
things  that  are  above.  The  one  points  to  the  out- 
ward life  of  effort  and  aim  ;  the  other  to  the  inward 
life  of  thought  and  longing.     Let  the  things  above 


268  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

then,  be  the  constant  mark  at  which  you  aim.  There 
is  a  vast  realm  of  real  existence  of  which  your  risen 
Lord  is  the  centre  and  the  life.  Make  it  the  point 
to  which  you  strive.  That  will  not  lead  to  despising 
earth  and  nearer  objects.  These,  so  far  as  they  are 
really  good  and  worthy,  stand  right  in  the  line  of 
direction  which  our  efforts  will  take  if  we  are  seek- 
ing the  things  that  are  above,  and  may  all  be  stages 
on  our  journey  Christwards.  The  lower  objects  are 
best  secured  by  those  who  live  for  the  higher.  No 
man  is  so  well  able  to  do  the  smallest  duties  here, 
or  to  bear  the  passing  troubles  of  this  world  of 
illusion  and  change,  or  to  wring  the  last  drop  of 
sweetness  out  of  swiftly  fleeting  joys,  as  he  to  whom 
everything  on  earth  is  dwarfed  by  the  eternity 
beyond,  as  some  hut  beside  a  palace,  and  is  great 
because  it  is  like  a  little  window  a  foot  square 
through  which  infinite  depths  of  sky  with  all  their 
stars  shine  in  upon  him.  The  true  meaning  and 
greatness  of  the  present  is  that  it  is  the  vestibule  of 
the  august  future.  The  staircase  leading  to  the 
presence  chamber  of  the  king  may  be  of  poor  deal, 
narrow,  crooked,  and  stowed  away  in  a  dark  turret, 
but  it  has  dignity  by  reason  of  that  to  which  it  gives 
access.  So  let  our  aims  pass  through  the  earthly 
and  find  in  them  helps  to  the  things  that  are  above. 
We  should  not  fire  all  our  bullets  at  the  short  range. 
Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God — the  things  which 
are  above. 

"  Set  your  mind  on "  these  things,  says  the 
Apostle  further.  Let  them  occupy  mind  and  heart 
— and  this  in  order  that  we  may  seek  them.  The 
direction  of  the  aims  will  follow  the  set  and  current 
of  the  thoughts.      "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart, 


Col.  iii.  1-4.]     THE  PRESENT  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.  269 

SO  is  he."  How  can  we  be  shaping  our  efforts  to 
reach  a  good  which  we  have  not  clearly  before  our 
imaginations  as  desirable  ?  How  should  the  life  of 
so  many  professing  Christians  be  other  than  a  lame 
creeping  along  the  low  levels  of  earth,  seeing  that  so 
seldom  do  they  look  up  to  "see  the  King  in  His 
beauty  and  the  land  that  is  very  far  off"?  John 
Bunyan's  "  man  with  the  muckrake "  grubbed  away 
so  eagerly  among  the  rubbish,  because  he  never 
lifted  his  eyes  to  the  crown  that  hung  above  his 
head.  In  many  a  silent,  solitary  hour  of  contem- 
plation, with  the  world  shut  out  and  Christ  brought 
very  near,  we  must  find  the  counterpoise  to  the 
•pressure  of  earthly  aims,  or  our  efforts  after  the 
things  that  are  above  will  be  feeble  and  broken. 
Life  goes  at  such  a  pace  to-day,  and  the  present  is 
so  exacting  with  most  of  us,  that  quiet  meditation 
is,  I  fear  me,  almost  out  of  fashion  with  Christian 
people.  We  must  become  more  familiar  with  the 
secret  place  of  the  most  High,  and  more  often  enter 
into  our  chambers  and  shut  our  doors  about  us,  if  in 
the  bustle  of  our  busy  days  we  are  to  aim  truly  and 
strongly  at  the  only  object  which  saves  life  from 
being  a  waste  and  a  sin,  a  madness  and  a  misery — ■ 
"  the  things  which  are  above,  where  Christ  is." 

"Where  Christ  is."  .1  Yes,  that  is  the  only  thought 
wfiiich  gives  definiteness  and  solidity  to  that  else 
vague  and  nebulous  unseen  universe ;  the  only 
thought  which  draws  our  affections  thither.  With- 
out Him,  there  is  no  footing  for  us  there.  Rolling 
mists  of  doubt  and  dim  hopes  warring  with  fears, 
strangeness  and  terrors  wrap  it  all.  But  if  He  be 
there,  it  becomjes_„a  home  for  our  hearts.  "I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you  " — a  place  where  desire  and 


270  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

thought  may  walk  unterrified  and  undoubting  even 
now,  and  where  we  ourselves  may  abide  when  our 
time  comes,  nor  shrink  from  the  light  nor  be 
oppressed  by  the  glory. 

"  My  knowledge  of  that  life  is  small, 
The  eye  of  faith  is  dim, 
But  'tis  enough  that  Christ  knovwTS  all, 
And  I  shall  be  with  Him." 

Into  that  solemn  world  we  shall  all  pass.  We 
can  choose  whether  we  shall  go  to  it  as  to  our 
long-sought  home,  to  find  in  it  Him  who  is  our  life  ; 
or  whether  we  shall  go  reluctant  and  afraid,  leaving 
all  for  which  we  have  cared,  and  going  to  Him 
whom  we  have  neglected  and  that  which  we  have" 
feared.  Christ  will  be  manifested,  and  we  shall  see 
Him.  We  can  choose  whether  it  will  be  to  us  the 
joy  of  beholding  the  soul  of  our  soul,  the  friend 
long-loved  when  dimly  seen  from  afar ;  or  whether 
it  shall  be  the  vision  of  a  face  that  will  stiffen  us  to 
stone  and  stab  us  with  its  light.  We  must  make 
our  choice.  If  we  give  our  hearts  to  Him,  and  by 
faith  unite  ourselves  with  Him,  then,  "when  He 
shall  appear,  we  shall  have  boldness,  and  not  be 
ashamed  before  Him  at  His  coming." 


XVIII. 

SLAYING  SELF  THE  FOUNDATION  PRECEPT  OF 
PR  A  C  TICAL   CHRIS  TIANITY. 

"  Mortify  therefore  your  members  which  are  upon  the  earth  ;  forni- 
cation, uncleanness,  passion,  evil  desire,  and  covetousness,  the  which 
is  idolatry  ;  for  which  things'  sake  cometh  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the 
sons  of  disobedience ;  in  the  which  ye  also  walked  aforetime,  when  ye 
lived  in  these  things.  But  now  put  ye  also  away  all  these ;  anger, 
wrath,  malice,  railing,  shameful  speaking  out  of  your  mouth :  lie  not 
one  to  another." — CoL.  iii.  5-9  (Rev.  Ver.). 

"  ]\/r  ^^'^^^^  therefore" — wherefore  .?  The  pre- 
IVX  vious  words  give  the  reason.  Because  "  ye 
died "  with  Christ,  and  because  ye  "  were  raised 
together  with  Him."  In  other  words,  the  plainest, 
homeliest  moral  teaching  of  this  Epistle,  such  as 
that  which  immediately  follows,  is  built  upon  its 
"  mystical "  theology.  Paul  thinks  that  the  deep 
things  which  he  has  been  saying  about  union  with 
Christ  in  His  death  and  resurrection  have  the  most 
intimate  connection  with  common  life.  These  pro- 
ound  truths  have  the  keenest  edge,  and  are  as  a 
sacrificial  knife,  to  slay  the  life  of  self.  Creed  is 
meant  to  tell  on  conduct.  Character  is  the  last 
outcome  and  test  of  doctrine.  But  too  many  people 
deal  with  their  theological  beliefs  as  they  do  with 
their  hassocks  and  prayer  books  and  hymn  books 
in  their  pews — use  them  for  formal  worship  once  a 


272  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

week,  and  leave  them  for  the  dust  to  settle  on  them 
till  Sunday  comes  round  again.  So  it  is  very 
necessary  to  put  the  practical  inferences  very  plainly, 
to  reiterate  the  most  commonplace  and  threadbare 
precepts  as  the  issue  of  the  most  recondite  teaching, 
and  to  bind  the  burden  of  duty  on  men's  backs  with 
the  cords  of  principles  and  doctrines. 

Accordingly  the  section  of  the  Epistle  which 
deals  with  Christian  character  now  begins,  and  this 
"  therefore  "  knits  the  two  halves  together.  That 
word  protests  against  opposite  errors.  On  the  one 
hand,  some  good  people  are  to  be  found  impatient 
of  exhortations  to  duties,  and  ready  to  say,  Preach 
the  gospel,  and  the  duties  will  spring  up  sponta- 
neously where  it  is  received  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
some  people  are  to  be  found  who  see  no  connection 
between  the  practice  of  common  morality  and  the 
belief  of  Christian  truths,  and  are  ready  to  say,  Put 
away  your  theology  ;  it  is  useless  lumber,  the 
machine  will  work  as  well  without  it.  But  Paul 
believed  that  the  firmest  basis  for  moral  teaching 
and  the  most  powerful  motive  for  moral  conduct  is 
"  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus." 

I.  We  have  here  put  very  plainly  the  paradox  of 
continual  self-slaying  as  the  all-embracing  duty  of  a 
Christian. 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  R.  V.  has  retained  "  mortify  " 
here,  as  that  Latinized  word  says  to  an  ordinary 
reader  much  less  than  is  meant,  and  hides  the 
allusion  to  the  preceding  contest.  The  marginal 
alternative  "  make  dead "  is,  to  say  the  least,  not 
idiomatic  English.  The  suggestion  of  the  American 
revisers,  which  is  printed  at  the  end  of  the  R.  V., 
"  put  to  death,"  is  much  better,  and  perhaps  a  single 


Col.  iii.  S-g.]  SLA  YING  SELF,  273 

word,  such  as  "slay"  or  "kill"  might  have  been 
better  still. 

"  Slay  your  members  which  are  upon  the  earth." 
It  is  a  vehement  and  paradoxical  injunction,  though 
it  be  but  the  echo  of  still  more  solemn  and  stringent 
words — "  pluck  it  out,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  from 
thee."  The  possibility  of  misunderstanding  it  and 
bringing  it  down  to  the  level  of  that  spurious  asce- 
ticism and  "  severity  to  the  body "  against  which 
he  has  just  been  thundering,  seems  to  occur  to  the 
Apostle,  and  therefore  he  hastens  to  explain  that  he 
does  not  mean  the  maiming  of  selves,  or  hacking 
away  limbs,  but  the  slaying  of  the  passions  and 
desires  which  root  themselves  in  our  bodily  constitu- 
tion. The  eager  haste  of  the  explanation  destroys 
the  congruity  of  the  sentence,  but  he  does  not 
mind  that.  And  then  follows  a  grim  catalogue  of 
the  evil-doers  on  whom  sentence  of  death  is  passed. 

Before  dealing  with  that  list,  two  points  of  some 
importance  may  be  observed.  The  first  is  that  the 
practical  exhortations  of  this  letter  begin  with  this 
command  to  put  off  certain  characteristics  which  are 
assumed  to  belong  to  the  Colossian  Christians  in 
their  natural  state,  and  that  only  afterwards  comes 
the  precept  to  put  on  (ver.  12)  the  fairer  robes  of 
Christlike  purity,  clasped  about  by  the  girdle  of 
perfectness.  That  is  to  say,  Paul's  anthropology 
regards  men  as  wrong  and  having  to  get  right.  A 
great  deal  of  the  moral  teaching  which  is  outside 
of  Christianity,  and  which  does  not  sufficiently 
recognise  that  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  cure 
and  alter,  but  talks  as  if  men  were,  on  the  whole, 
rather  inclined  to  be  good,  is  for  that  very  reason 
perfectly  useless.     Its  fine  precepts  and  lofty  senti- 

18 


274  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

ments  go  clean  over  people's  heads,  and  are 
ludicrously  inappropriate  to  the  facts  of  the  case. 
The  serpent  has  twined  itself  round  my  limbs,  and 
imless  you  can  give  me  a  knife,  sharp  and  strong 
enough  to  cut  its  loathsome  coils  asunder,  it  is  cruel 
to  bid  me  walk.  All  men  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
need,  for  moral  progress,  to  be  shown  and  helped 
first  how  not  to  be  what  they  have  been,  and  only 
after  that  is  it  of  the  slightest  use  to  tell  them  what 
they  ought  to  be.  The  only  thing  that  reaches  the 
universal  need  is  a  power  that  will  make  us  different 
from  what  we  are.  If  we  are  to  grow  into  goodness 
and  beauty,  we  must  begin  by  a  complete  reversal 
of  tastes  and  tendencies.  The  thing  we  want  first 
is  not  progx*ess,  the  going  on  in  the  direction  in 
which  our  faces  are  turned,  but  a  power  which  can 
lay  a  mastering  hand  upon  our  shoulders,  turn  us 
right  round,  and  make  us  go  in  the  way  opposite  to 
that.  Culture,  the  development  of  what  is  in  us 
in  germ,  is  not  the  beginning  of  good  husbandry 
on  human  nature  as  it  is.  The  thorns  have  to  be 
stubbed  up  first,  and  the  poisonous  seeds  sifted  out, 
and  new  soil  laid  down,  and  then  culture  will  bring 
forth  something  better  than  wild  grapes.  First — 
"  mortify  ;  "  then — "  put  on." 

Another  point  to  be  carefully  noted  is  that, 
according  to  the  Apostle's  teaching,  the  root  and 
beginning  of  all  such  slaying  of  the  evil  which  is 
in  us  all,  lies  in  our  being  dead  with  Christ  to  the 
world.  In  the  former  chapter  we  found  that  the 
Apostle's  final  condemnation  of  the  false  asceticism 
which  was  beginning  to  infect  the  Colossian  Church, 
was  that  it  was  of  no  value  as  a  counteractive  of 
fleshly  indulgence.     But- here  he  proclaims  that  what 


Col.iii.5-9-  SLAYING  SELF.  27S 


asceticism  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through 
the  flesh,  union  with  Jesus  Christ  in  His  death  and 
risen  life  will  do  ;  it  will  subdue  sin  in  the  flesh. 
That  slaying  here  enjoined  as  fundamental  to  all 
Christian  holiness,  is  but  the  working  out  in  life  and 
character  of  the  revolution  in  the  inmost  self  which 
has  been  effected,  if  by  faith  we  are  joined  to  the 
living   Lord,  who  was   dead  and  is  alive  for  ever- 


more. 


There  must,  however,  be  a  very  vigorous  act  of 
personal  determination  if  the  power  of  that  union  is 
to  be  manifested  in  us.  The  act  of  "  slaying "  can 
never  be  pleasant  or  easy.  The  vehemence  of  the 
command  and  the  form  of  the  metaphor  express  the 
strenuousness  of  the  effort  and  the  painfulness  of 
the  process,  in  the  same  way  as  Paul's  other  saying, 
"  crucify  the  flesh,"  does.  Suppose  a  man  working 
at  some  machine.  His  fingers  get  drawn  between 
the  rollers  or  caught  in  some  belting.  Another 
minute  and  he  will  be  flattened  to  a  shapeless  bloody 
mass.  He  catches  up  an  axe  lying  by  and  with  his 
own  arm  hacks  off  his  own  hand  at  the  wrist.  It 
takes  some  nerve  to  do  that.  It  is  not  easy  nor 
pleasant,  but  it  is  the  only  alternative  to  a  horrible 
death.  I  know  of  no  stimulus  that  will  string  a 
man  up  to  the  analogous  spiritual  act  here  enjoined, 
and  enjoined  by  conscience  also,  except  participation 
in  the  death  of  Christ  and  in  the  resulting  life. 

"  Slay  your  members  which  are  upon  the  earth  " 
means  tears  and  blood  and  more  than  blood.  It 
is  easier  far  to  cut  off  the  hand,  which  after  all  is 
not  me,  than  to  sacrifice  passions  and  desires  which, 
though  they  be  my  worst  self,  are  myself.  It  is 
useless  to  blink  the  fact  that  the  only  road   to  holi- 


276  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

ness  is  through  self-suppression,  self-annihilation  ; 
and  nothing  can  make  that  easy  and  pleasant. 
True,  the  paths  of  religion  are  ways  of  pleasantness 
and  paths  of  peace,  but  they  are  steep,  and  climbing 
is  never  easy.  The  upper  air  is  bracing  and  exhila- 
rating indeed,  but  trying  to  lungs  accustomed  to  the 
low  levels.  Religion  is  delightsome,  but  self-denial 
is  always  against  the  grain  of  the  self  which  is 
denied,  and  there  is  no  religion  without  it.  Holiness 
is  not  to  be  won  in  a  moment.  It  is  not  a  matter 
of  consciousness,  possessed  when  we  know  that 
we  possess  it.  But  it  has  to  be  attained  by  effort. 
The  way  to  heaven  is  not  by  "  the  primrose  path." 
That  leads  to  "the  everlasting  bonfire."  For  ever 
it  remains  true  that  men  obtain  forgiveness  and 
eternal  life  as  a  gift  for  which  the  only  requisite  is 
faith,  but  they  achieve  holiness,  which  is  the  per- 
meating of  their  characters  with  that  eternal  life,  by 
patient,  believing,  continuous  effort.  An  essential 
part  of  that  effort  is  directed  towards  the  conquest 
and  casting  out  of  the  old  self  in  its  earthward-look- 
ing lusts  and  passions.  The  love  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  indwelling  of  His  renewing  spirit  make  that 
conquest  possible,  by  supplying  an  all-constraining 
motive  and  an  all-conquering  power.  But  even  they 
do  not  make  it  easy,  nor  deaden  the  flesh  to  the  cut 
of  the  sacrificial  knife. 

n.  We  have  here  a  grim  catalogue  of  the  con- 
demned to  death. 

The  Apostle  stands  like  a  jailer  at  the  prison 
door,  with  the  fatal  roll  in  his  hand,  and  reads  out 
the  names  of  the  evil  doers  for  whom  the  tumbril 
waits  to  carry  them  to  the  guillotine.  It  is  an 
ugly  list  but  we  need  plain  speaking  that  there  may 


Col.  iii.  5-9.]  SLA  YING  SELF.  277 

be  no  mistake  as  to  the  identity  of  the  culprits. 
He  enumerates  evils  which  honeycombed  society 
with  rottenness  then,  and  are  rampant  now.  The 
series  recounts  various  forms  of  evil  love,  and  is 
so  arranged  as  that  it  starts  with  the  coarse,  gross 
act,  and  goes  on  to  more  subtle  and  inward  forms. 
It  goes  up  the  stream  as  it  were,  to  the  fountain 
head,  passing  inward  from  deed  to  desire.  First 
stands  "  fornication,"  which  covers  the  whole  ground 
of  immoral  sexual  relations,  then  "  all  uncleanness," 
which  embraces  every  manifestation  in  word  or  look 
or  deed  of  the  impure  spirit,  and  so  is  at  once  wider 
and  subtler  than  the  gross  physical  act.  Then  fol- 
low "  passion  "  and  "  evil  desire  "  ;  the  sources  of  the 
evil  deeds.  These  again  are  at  once  more  inward 
and  more  general  than  the  preceding.  They  include 
not  only  the  lusts  and  longings  which  give  rise  to 
the  special  sins  just  denounced,  but  all  forms  of 
hungry  appetite  and  desire  after  "  the  things  that 
are  upon  the  earth."  If  we  are  to  try  to  draw  a 
distinction  between  the  two,  probably  "  passion  "  is 
somewhat  less  wide  than  "  desire,"  and  the  former 
represents  the  evil  emotion  as  an  affection  which  the. 
mind  suffers,  while  the  latter  represents  it  as  a  long- 
ing which  it  actively  puts  forth.  The  "  lusts  of  the 
flesh "  are  in  the  one  aspect  kindled  by  outward 
temptations  which  come  with  terrible  force  and 
carry  men  captive,  acting  almost  irresistibly  on  the 
animal  nature.  In  the  other  aspect  they  are  ex- 
cited by  the  voluntary  action  of  the  man  himself. 
In  the  one  the  evil  comes  into  the  heart  ;  in  the 
other  the  heart  goes  out  to  the  evil. 

Then  follows  covetousness.     The  juxtaposition  of 
that  vice  with  the  grosser  forms  of  sensuality  is  pro- 


278  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS.. 

foundly  significant.  It  is  closely  allied  with  these. 
It  has  the  same  root,  and  is  but  another  form  of  evil 
desire  going  out  to  the  "  things  which  are  on  the 
earth."  The  ordinary  worldly  nature  flies  for  solace 
either  to  the  pleasures  of  appetite  or  to  the  passion 
of  acquiring.  And  not  only  are  they  closely  con- 
nected in  root,  but  covetousness  often  follows  lust  in 
the  history  of  a  life  just  as  it  does  in  this  catalogue. 
When  the  former  evil  spirit  loses  its  hold,  the  latter 
often  takes  its  place.  How  many  respectable 
middle-aged  gentlemen  are  now  mainly  devoted  to 
making  money,  whose  youth  was  foul  with  sensual 
indulgence  ?  When  that  palled,  this  came  to 
titillate  the  jaded  desires  with  a  new  form  of  gratifi- 
cation. Covetousness  is  "  promoted  vice^  lust  superan- 
nuated." 

A  reason  for  this  warning  against  covetousness  is 
appended,  "  inasmuch  as  (for  such  is  the  force  of  the 
word  rendered  '  the  which ')  it  is  idolatry."  If  we 
say  of  anything,  no  matter  what,  "  If  I  have  only 
enough  of  this,  I  shall  be  satisfied  ;  it  is  my  real 
aim,  my  sufficient  good,"  that  thing  is  a  god  to  me, 
and  my  real  worship  is  paid  to  it,  whatever  may  be 
my  nominal  religion.  The  lowest  form  of  idolatry 
is  the  giving  of  supreme  trust  to  a  material  thing, 
and  making  that  a  god.  There  is  no  lower  form  of 
fetish-worship  than  this,  which  is  the  real  working 
religion  to-day  of  thousands  of  Englishmen  who  go 
masquerading  as  Christians. 

III.  The  exhortation  is  enforced  by  a  solemn 
note  of  warning  :  "  For  which  things'  sake  the  wrath 
of  God  Cometh  upon  the  children  of  disobedience." 
Some  authorities  omit  the  words  "  upon  the  children 
of  disobedience,"  which  are  supposed  to  have  crept 


Col.  iii.  5-9.]  SLAYING  SELF,  279 

in  here  from  the  parallel  passage,  Eph.  v.  6.  But 
even  the  advocates  of  the  omission  allow  that  the 
clause  has  "  preponderating  support,"  and  the  sen- 
tence is  painfully  incomplete  and  abrupt  without 
it.  The  R.  V.  has  exercised  a  wise  discretion  in 
retaining  it. 

In  the  previous  chapter  the  Apostle  included 
*'  warning  "  in  his  statement  of  the  various  branches 
into  which  his  Apostolic  activity  was  divided.  His 
duty  seemed  to  him  to  embrace  the  plain  stern 
setting  forth  of  that  terrible  reality,  the  wrath  of 
God.  Here  we  have  it  urged  as  a  reason  for 
shaking  ofif-these  evil  habits. 

That  thought  of  wrath  as  an  element  in  the 
Divine  nature  has  become  very  unwelcome  to  this 
generation.  The  great  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ  has  taught  the  world  His  love,  as  it  never 
knew  it  before,  and  knows  it  now  by  no  other 
means.  So  profoundly  has  that  truth  that  God  is 
love  penetrated  the  consciousness  of  the  European 
world,  that  many  people  will  not  hear  of  the  wrath 
of  God  because  they  think  it  inconsistent  with  His 
love — and  sometimes  reject  the  very  gospel  to  which 
they  owe  their  lofty  conceptions  of  the  Divine  heart, 
because  it  speaks  solemn  words  about  His  anger  and 
its  issues. 

But  surely  these  two  thoughts  of  God's  love  and 
God's  wrath  are  not  inconsistent,  for  His  wrath  is 
His  love,  pained,  wounded,  thrown  back  upon  itself, 
rejected  and  compelled  to  assume  the  form  of 
aversion  and  to  do  its  "  strange  work  " — that  which 
is  not  its  natural  operation — of  punishment.  When 
we  ascribe  wrath  to  God,  we  must  take  care  of 
lowering  the  conception  of  it  to  the  level  of  human 


28o  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 

wrath,  which  is  shaken  with  passion  and  often  tinged 
with  malice,  whereas  in  that  affection  of  the  Divine 
nature  which  corresponds  to  anger  in  us,  there  is 
neither  passion  nor  wish  to  harm.  Nor  does  it 
exclude  the  co-existence  of  love,  as  Paul  witnesses  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  in  one  verse  declaring 
that  "  we  were  the  children  of  wrath,"  and  in  the 
next  that  God  "  loved  us  with  a  great  love  even  when 
we  were  dead  in  sins." 

God  would  not  be  a  holy  God  if  it  were  all  the 
same  to  Him  whether  a  man  were  good  or  bad. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  modern  revulsion  against 
the  representation  of  the  wrath  of  God  •  is  usually 
accompanied  with  weakened  conceptions  of  His 
holiness,  and  of  His  moral  government  of  the  world. 
Instead  of  exalting,  it  degrades  His  love  to  free  it 
from  the  admixture  of  wrath,  which  is  like  alloy 
with  gold,  giving  firmness  to  what  were  else  too  soft 
for  use.  Such  a  God  is  not  love,  but  impotent 
good  nature.  If  there  be  no  wrath,  there  is  no  love  ; 
if  there  were  no  love,  there  would  be  no  wrath.  It 
is  more  blessed  and  hopeful  for  sinful  men  to 
believe  in  a  God  who  is  angry  with  the  wicked, 
whom  yet  He  loves,  every  day,  and  who  cannot  look 
V  oon  sin,  than  in  one  who  does  not  love  righteous- 

s  enough  to  hate  iniquity,  and  from  whose  too 
•  dlgent  hand  the  rod  has  dropped,  to  the  spoiling 
of  His  children.  "  With  the  froward  Thou  wilt  show 
Thyself  froward."  The  mists  of  our  sins  intercept 
the  gracious  beams  and  turn  the  blessed  sun  into  a 
ball  of  fire. 

The  wrath  "  comcth!^  That  majestic  present 
tense  may  express  either  the  continuous  present 
incidence  of  the  wrath  as  exemplified  in  the  moral 


Col.ui.5-9]  SLAYING  SELF,  281 

government  of  the  world,  in  which,  notwithstanding 
anomalies,  such  sins  as  have  been  enumerated  drag 
after  themselves  their  own  punishment  and  are 
"  avenged  in  kind,"  or  it  may  be  the  present  tense 
expressive  of  prophetic  certainty,  which  is  so  sure  of 
what  shall  come,  that  it  speaks  of  it  as  already  on 
its  road.  It  is  eminently  true  of  those  sins  of  lust 
and  passion,  that  the  men  who  do  them  reap  as 
they  have  sown.  How  many  young  men  come  up 
into  our  great  cities,  innocent  and  strong,  with  a 
mother's  kiss  upon  their  lips,  and  a  father's  blessing 
hovering  over  their  heads  !  They  fall  among  bad 
companions  in  college  or  warehouse,  and  after  a 
little  -while  they  disappear.  Broken  in  health, 
tainted  in  body  and  soul,  they  crawl  home  to  break 
their  mothers'  hearts — and  to  die.  "  His  bones  are 
full  of  the  sins  of  his  youth,  which  shall  lie  down 
with  him  in  the  dust."  Whether  in  such  extreme 
forms  or  no,  that  wrath  comes  even  now,  in  plain 
and  bitter  consequences  on  men,  and  still  more  on 
women  who  sin  in  such  ways. 

And  the  present  retribution  may  well  be  taken  as 
the  herald  and  prophet  of  a  still  more  solemn  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  displeasure,  which  is  already 
as  it  were  on  the  road,  has  set  out  from  the  throne 
of  God,  and  will  certainly  arrive  here  one  day. 
These  consequences  of  sin  already  realised  serve  to 
show  the  set  and  drift  of  things,  and  to  suggest 
what  will  happen  when  retribution  and  the  harvest 
of  our  present  life  of  sowing  come.  The  first  fiery 
drops  that  fell  on  Lot's  path  as  he  fled  from  Sodom 
were  not  more  surely  precursors  of  an  overwhelming 
rain,  nor  bade  him  flee  for  his  life  more  urgently, 
than   the   present  punishment  of   sin   proclaims   its. 


282  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS, 

sorer  future  punishment,  and  exhorts  us  all  to  come 
out  of  the  storm  into  the  refuge,  even  Jesus,  who 
is  ever  even  now  "  delivering  us  from  the  wrath 
which  is  "  ever  even  now  "  coming  "  on  the  sons  of 
disobedience. 

IV.  A  further  motive  enforcing  the  main  precept 
of  self-slaying  is  the  remembrance  of  a  sinful  past, 
which  remembrance  is  at  once  penitent  and  grateful. 
"  In  the  which  ye  also  walked  aforetime,  when  ye 
lived  in  them." 

What  is  the  difference  between  "  walking "  and 
"  living  "  in  these  things  }  The  two  phrases  seem 
synonymous,  and  might  often  be  used  indifferently  ; 
but  here  there  is  evidently  a  well  marked  diversity 
of  meaning.  The  former  is  an  expression  frequent 
in  the  Pauline  Epistles  as  well  as  in  John's  ;  as  for 
instance,  "  to  walk  in  love  "  or  "  in  truth."  That  in 
which  men  walk  is  conceived  of  as  an  atmosphere 
encompassing  them  ;  or,  without  a  metaphor,  to  walk 
in  anything  is  to  have  the  active  life  or  conduct 
guided  or  occupied  by  it.  These  Colossian  Christians, 
then,  had  in  the  past  trodden  that  evil  path,  or  their 
active  life  had  been  spent  in  that  poisonous  atmo- 
sphere— which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  they  had 
committed  these  sins.  At  what  time  }  "  When  you 
lived  in  them."  That  does  not  mean  merely  "  when 
your  natural  life  was  passed  among  them."  That 
would  be  a  trivial  thing  to  say,  and  it  would  imply 
that  their  outward  life  now  was  not  so  passed,  which 
would  not  be  true.  In  that  sense  they  still  lived  in 
the  poisonous  atmosphere.  In  such  an  age  of  un- 
nameable  moral  corruption  no  man  could  live  out 
of  the  foul  stench  which  filled  his  nostrils  whenever 
he  walked  abroad  or  opened  his  window.     But  the 


Col.in.5-9-]  SLAYING  SELF.  283 

Apostle  has  just  said  that  they  were  now  "  living  in 
Christ,"  and  their  lives  "  hid  with  Him  in  God."  So 
this  phrase  describes  the  condition  which  is  the 
opposite  of  their  present,  and  may  be  paraphrased, 
"  When  the  roots  of  your  life,  tastes,  affections, 
thoughts,  desires  were  immersed,  as  in  some  feculent 
bog,  in  these  and  kindred  evils."  And  the  meaning 
of  the  whole  is  substantially — Your  active  life  was 
occupied  and  guided  by  these  sins  in  that  past  time 
when  your  inward  being  was  knit  to  and  nourished 
by  them.  Or  to  put  it  plainly,  conduct  followed  and 
was  shaped  by  inclinations  and  desires. 

This  retrospect  enforces  the  main  exhortation.  It 
is  meant  to  awaken  penitence,  and  the  thought  that 
time  enough  has  been  wasted  and  incense  enough 
offered  on  these  foul  altars.  It  is  also  meant  to 
kindle  thankfulness  for  the  strong,  loving  hand  which 
has  drawn  them  from  that  pit  of  filth,  and  by  both 
emotions  to  stimulate  the  resolute  casting  aside  of 
that  evil  in  which  they  once,  like  others,  wallowed. 
Their  joy  on  the  one  hand  and  their  contrition  on 
the  other  should  lead  them  to  discern  the  incon- 
sistency of  professing  to  be  Christians  and  yet 
keeping  terms  with  these  old  sins.  They  could  not 
have  the  roots  of  half  their  lives  above  and  of  the 
other  half  down  here.  The  gulf  between  the  present 
and  past  of  a  regenerate  man  is  too  wide  and  deep 
to  be  bridged  by  flimsy  compromises.  "  A  man 
who  is  perverse  in  his  two  ways,"  that  is,  in  double 
ways,  "  shall  fall  in  one  of  them,"  as  the  Book  ot 
Proverbs  has  it.  The  attempt  to  combine  incom- 
patibles  is  sure  to  fail.  It  is  impossible  to  walk 
firmly  if  one  foot  be  down  in  the  gutter  and  the 
other    up    on    the  curb-stone.     We   have   to   settle 


284  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS, 

which  level  we  shall  choose,  and  then  to  plant  both 
feet  there. 

V.  We  have,  as  conclusion,  a  still  wider  exhorta- 
tion to  an  entire  stripping  off  of  the  sins  of  the  old 
state. 

The  whole  force  of  the  contrast  and  contrariety 
between  the  Colossian  Christians'  past  and  present 
lies  in  that  emphatic  "  now."  They  as  well  as  other 
heathen  had  been  walking,  because  they  had  been 
living,  in  these  muddy  ways.  But  now  that  their 
life  was  hid  with  Christ  in  God  ;  now  that  they  had 
been  made  partakers  of  His  death  and  resurrection, 
and  of  all  the  new  loves  and  affinities  which  therein 
became  theirs  ;  now  they  must  take  heed  that  they 
bring  not  that  dead  and  foul  past  into  this  bright 
and  pure  present,  nor  prolong  winter  and  its  frosts 
into  the  summer  of  the  soul. 

"  Ye  also."  There  is  another  "  ye  also "  in  the 
previous  verse — "  ye  also  walked,"  that  is,  you  in 
company  with  other  Gentiles  followed  a  certain 
course  of  life.  Here,  by  contrast,  the  expression 
means  ''you,  in  common  with  other  Christians."  A 
motive  enforcing  the  subsequent  exhortation  is  in  it 
hinted  rather  than  fully  spoken.  The  Christians 
at  Colossae  had  belonged  to  a  community  which 
they  have  now  left  in  order  to  join  another.  Let 
them  behave  as  their  company  behaves.  Let  them 
keep  step  with  their  new  comrades.  Let  them 
strip  themselves,  as  their  new  associates  do,  of  the 
uniform  which  they  wore  in  that  other  regiment. 

The  metaphor  of  putting  clothing  on  or  off  is 
very  frequent  in  this  Epistle.  The  precept  here  is 
substantially  equivalent  to  the  previous  command  to 
**slay,"  with  the  difference    that  the    conception  of 


CoL  iii.  5-9.]  SLA  YING  SELF,  285 

vices  as  the  garments  of  the  soul  is  somewhat  less 
vehement  than  that  which  regards  them  as  members 
of  the  very  self.  "  All  these  "  are  to  be  put  off. 
That  phrase  points  back  to  the  things  previously 
spoken  of.  It  includes  the  whole  of  the  unnamed 
members  of  the  class,  of  which  a  few  have  been 
already  named,  and  a  handful  more  are  about  to  be 
plucked  like  poison  flowers,  and  suggests  that  there 
are  many  more  as  baleful  growing  by  the  side  of 
this  devil's  bouquet  which  is  next  presented. 

As  to  this  second  catalogue  of  vices,  they  may  be 
summarised  as,  on  the  whole,  being  various  forms 
of  wicked  hatred,  in  contrast  with  the  former  list, 
which  consisted  of  various  forms  of  wicked  love. 
They  have  less  to  do  with  bodily  appetites.  But 
perhaps  it  is  not  without  profound  meaning  that 
the  fierce  rush  of  unhallowed  passion  over  the  soul 
is  put  first,  and  the  contrary  flow  of  chill  malignity 
comes  second  ;  for  in  the  spiritual  world,  as  in  the 
physical,  a  storm  blowing  from  one  quarter  is  usually 
followed  by  violent  gales  from  the  opposite.  Lust 
ever  passes  into  cruelty,  and  dwells  "  hard  by  hate." 
A  licentious  epoch  or  man  is  generally  a  cruel  epoch 
or  man.  Nero  made  torches  of  the  Christians. 
Malice  is  evil  desire  iced. 

This  second  list  goes  in  the  opposite  direction  to 
the  former.  That  began  with  actions  and  went  up 
the  stream  to  desire  ;  this  begins  with  the  sources, 
which  are  emotions,  and  comes  down  stream  to  their 
manifestations  in  action. 

First  we  have  anger.  There  is  a  just  and  righteous 
anger,  which  is  part  of  the  new  man,  and  essential  to 
his  completeness,  even  as  it  is  part  of  the  image  after 
which  he  is  created.     But  here  of  course  the  anger 


286  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CO  LOSS  TANS. 

which  is  to  be  put  off  is  the  inverted  reflection  of  the 
earthly  and  passionate  lust  after  the  flesh;  it  is,  then, 
of  an  earthl}^,  passionate  and  selfish  kind.  "  Wrath  " 
differs  from  "anger"  in  so  far  as  it  maybe  called 
anger  boiling  over.  If  anger  rises  keep  the  lid  on, 
do  not  let  it  get  the  length  of  wrath,  nor  effervesce 
into  the  brief  madness  of  passion.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  do  not  think  that  you  have  done  enough  when 
you  have  suppressed  the  wrath  which  is  the  expres- 
sion of  your  anger,  nor  be  content  with  saying, 
"  Well,  at  all  events  I  did  not  show  it,"  but  take  the 
cure  a  step  further  back,  and  strip  off  anger  as  well 
as  wrath,  the  emotion  as  well  as  the  manifestation. 

Christian  people  do  not  sufliciently  bring  the 
greatest  forces  of  their  religion  and  of  God's  Spirit 
to  bear  upon  the  homely  task  of  curing  small  hasti- 
nesses of  temper,  and  sometimes  seem  to  think  it  a 
sufficient  excuse  to  say,  "  I  have  naturally  a  hot 
disposition."  But  Christianity  was  sent  to  subdue 
and  change  natural  dispositions.  An  angry  man 
cannot  have  communion  with  God,  any  more  than 
the  sky  can  be  reflected  in  the  storm-swept  tide ; 
and  a  man  in  communion  with  God  cannot  be  angry 
with  a  passionate  and  evil  anger  any  more  than  a 
dove  can  croak  like  a  raven  or  strike  like  a  hawk. 
Such  anger  disturbs  our  insight  into  everything ; 
eyes  suffused  with  it  cannot  see  ;  and  it  weakens  all 
good  in  the  soul,  and  degrades  it  before  its  own 
conscience. 

"  Malice "  designates  another  step  in  the  process. 
The  anger  boils  over  in  wrath,  and  then  cools  down 
into  malignity — the  disposition  which  means  mischief, 
and  plans  or  rejoices  in  evil  falling  on  the  hated 
head.     That  malice,  as  cold,  as  clear,  as  colourless 


Col.  iii.  S-9.]  SLA  YING  SELF.  287 

as  sulphuric  acid,  and  burning  like  it,  is  worse  than 
the  boiling  rage  already  spoken  of.  There  arc 
many  degrees  of  this  cold  drawn,  double  distilled 
rejoicing  in  evil,  and  the  beginnings  of  it  in  a  certain 
faint  satisfaction  in  the  misfortunes  of  those  whom 
we  dislike  is  by  no  means  unusual. 

An  advance  is  now  made  in  the  direction  of 
outward  manifestation.  It  is  significant  that  while 
the  expressions  of  wicked  love  were  deeds,  those  of 
wicked  hate  are  words.  The  "  blasphemy "  of  the 
Authorised  Version  is  better  taken,  with  the  Revised, 
as  "  railing."  The  word  means  "  speech  that  in- 
jures," and  such  speech  may  be  directed  either 
against  God,  which  is  blasphemy  in  the  usual  sense 
of  the  word,  or  against  man.  The  hate  blossoms 
into  hurtful  speech.  The  heated  metal  of  anger  is 
forged  into  poisoned  arrows  of  the  tongue.  Then 
follows  "  shameful  speaking  out  of  your  mouth," 
which  is  probably  to  be  understood  not  so  much  of 
obscenities,  which  would  more  properly  belong  to 
the  former  catalogue,  as  of  foul-mouthed  abuse  of 
the  hated  persons,  that  copiousness  of  vituperation 
and  those  volcanic  explosions  of  mud,  which  are  so 
natural  to  the  angry  Eastern. 

Finally,  we  have  a  dehortation  from  lying,  espe- 
cially to  those  within  the  circle  of  the  Church,  as  if 
that  sin  too  were  the  child  of  hatred  and  anger.  It 
comes  from  a  deficiency  of  love,  or  a  predominance 
of  selfishness,  which  is  the  same  thing.  A  lie  ignores 
my  brother's  claims  on  me,  and  my  union  with  him. 
**  Ye  are  members  one  of  another,"  is  the  great  obli- 
gation to  love  which  is  denied  and  sinned  against  by 
hatred  in  all  its  forms  and  manifestations,  and  not 
least  by  giving  my  brother  the  poisoned  bread  of  lies 


288  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 

instead  of  the  heavenly  manna  of  pure  truth,  so  far 
as  it  has  been  given  to  me. 

On  the  whole,  this  catalogue  brings  out  the  im- 
portance to  be  attached  to  sins  of  speech,  which  are 
ranked  here  as  in  parallel  lines  with  the  grossest 
forms  of  animal  passion.  Men's  words  ought  to  be 
fountains  of  consolation  and  sources  of  illumination, 
encouragement,  revelations  of  love  and  pity.  And 
what  are  they  1  What  floods  of  idle  words,  foul 
words,  words  that  wound  like  knives  and  sting  and 
bite  like  serpents,  deluge  the  world  !  If  all  the  talk 
that  has  its  sources  in  these  evils  rebuked  here,  were 
to  be  suddenly  made  inaudible,  what  a  dead  silence 
would  fall  on  many  brilliant  circles,  and  how  many 
of  us  would  stand  making  mouths  but  saying 
nothing. 

All  the  practical  exhortations  of  this  section  con- 
cern common  homely  duties  which  everybody  knows 
to  be  such.  It  may  be  asked — does  Christianity 
then  only  lay  down  such  plain  precepts  ?  What 
need  was  there  of  all  that  prelude  of  mysterious  doc- 
trines, if  we  are  only  to  be  landed  at  last  in  such 
elementary  and  obvious  moralities  ?  No  doubt  they 
are  elementary  and  obvious,  but  the  main  matter 
is — how  to  get  them  kept.  And  in  respect  to  that, 
Christianity  does  two  things  which  nothing  else 
does.  It  breaks  the  entail  of  evil  habits  by  the 
great  gift  of  pardon  for  the  past,  and  by  the  greater 
gift  of  a  new  spirit  and  life  principle  within,  which  is 
foreign  to  all  evil,  being  the  effluence  of  the  spirit 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Therefore  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  makes  it 
possible  that  men  should  slay  themselves,  and  put 
on  the  new  life,  which  will  expel  the  old  as  the  new 


Col.m.S-9.]  SLAYING  SELF.  289 

shoots  on  some  trees  push  the  last  year's  lingering 
leaves,  brown  and  sere,  from  their  places.  All 
moral  teachers  from  the  beginning  have  agreed,  on 
the  whole,  in  their  reading  of  the  commandments 
which  are  printed  on  conscience  in  the  largest 
capitals.  Everybody  who  is  not  blind  can  read 
them.  But  reading  is  easy,  keeping  is  hard.  How 
to  fulfil  has  been  wanting.  It  is  given  us  in  the 
gospel,  which  is  not  merely  a  republication  of  old 
precepts,  but  the  communication  of  new  power.  If 
we  yield  ourselves  to  Christ  He  will  nerve  our  arms 
to  wield  the  knife  that  will  slay  our  dearest  tastes, 
though  beloved  as  Isaac  by  Abraham.  If  a  man 
knows  and  feels  that  Christ  has  died  for  him,  and 
that  he  lives  in  and  by  Christ,  then,  and  not  else, 
will  he  be  able  to  crucify  self  If  he  knows  and 
feels  that  by  His  pardoning  mercy  and  atoning 
death,  Christ  has  taken  off  his  foul  raiment  and 
clothed  him  in  clean  garments,  then,  and  not  else, 
will  he  be  able,  by  daily  effort  after  repression  of 
self  and  appropriation  of  Christ,  to  put  off  the  old 
man  and  to  put  on  the  new,  which  is  daily  being 
renewed  into  closer  resemblance  to  the  image  of 
Him  who  created  him. 


19 


XIX. 

THE   NEW  NATURE    WROUGHT   OUT  IN  NEW  LIFE, 

"Seeing  that  ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  doings,  and  have 
put  on  the  new  man,  which  is  being  renewed  unto  knowledge  after 
the  image  of  Him  that  created  him  :  where  there  cannot  be  Greek  and 
Jew,  circumcision  and  uncircumcision,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bondman, 
freeman  ;  but  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all."— CoL.  iii.  9-1 1  (Rev.  Ver.). 

IN  previous  section  we  were  obliged  to  break  the 
close  connection  between  these  words  and  the 
preceding.  They  adduce  a  reason  for  the  moral 
exhortation  going  before,  which  at  first  sight  may- 
appear  very  illogical.  "  Put  off  these  vices  of  the  old 
nature  because  you  have  put  off  the  old  nature  with 
its  vices,"  sounds  like,  Do  a  thing  because  you  have 
done  it.  But  the  apparent  looseness  of  reasoning 
covers  very  accurate  thought  which  a  little  considera- 
tion brings  to  light,  and  introduces  a  really  cogent 
argument  for  the  conduct  it  recommends.  Nor  do 
the  principles  contained  in  the  verses  now  under 
examination  look  backward  only  to  enforce  the 
exhortation  to  put  aside  these  evils.  They  also 
look  forward,  and  are  taken  as  the  basis  of  the 
following  exhortation,  to  put  on  the  white  robes  of 
Christlikeness — which  is  coupled  with  this  section  by 
"  therefore." 

I.  The  first  thing  to  be  observed  is  the  change 
of  the   spirit's    dress,  which    is   taken    for   granted 


Col.iii.9-ii.]  THE  NEW  NATURE,  291 

as  having  occurred  in  the  experience  of  all  Chris- 
tians. 

We  have  already  found  the  same  idea  presented 
under  the  forms  of  death  and  resurrection.  The 
"  death  "  is  equivalent  to  the  "  putting  off  of  the 
old,"  and  the  "  resurrection  "  to  "  the  putting  on  of 
the  new  man."  That  figure  of  a  change  of  dress  to 
express  a  change  of  moral  character  is  very  obvious, 
and  is  frequent  in  Scripture.  Many  a  psalm  breathes 
such  prayers  as,  "  Let  Thy  priests  be  clothed  with 
righteousness."  Zechariah  in  vision  saw  the  high- 
priestly  representative  of  the  nation  standing  before 
the  Lord  "  in  filthy  garments,"  and  heard  the  com- 
mand to  strip  them  off  him,  and  clothe  him  in  festival 
robes,  in  token  that  God  had  "caused  his  iniquity  to 
pass  from  him."  Christ  spoke  His  parable  of  the 
man  at  the  wedding  feast  without  the  wedding  gar- 
ment, and  of  the  prodigal,  who  was  stripped  of  his 
rags  stained  with  the  filth  of  the  swine  troughs,  and 
clothed  with  the  best  robe.  Paul  in  many  places 
touches  the  same  image,  as  in  his  ringing  exhorta- 
tion— clear  and  rousing  in  its  notes  like  the  morning 
bugle — to  Christ's  soldiers,  to  put  off  their  night 
gear,  "  the  works  of  darkness,"  and  to  brace  on  the 
armour  of  light,  which  sparkles  in  the  morning  sun- 
rise. Every  reformatory  and  orphanage  yields  an 
illustration  of  the  image,  where  the  first  thing  done 
is  to  strip  off  and  burn  the  rags  of  the  new  comers, 
then  to  give  them  a  bath  and  dress  them  in  clean, 
sweet,  new  clothes.  Most  naturally  dress  is  taken 
as  the  emblem  of  character,  which  is  indeed  the  garb 
of  the  soul.  Most  naturally  habit  means  both 
costume  and  custom. 

But  here  we  have  a  strange  paradox  introduced 


292  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

to  the  ruining  of  the  rhetorical  propriety  of  the 
figure.  It  is  a  "  new  man  "  that  is  put  on.  The 
Apostle  does  not  mind  hazarding  a  mixed  metaphor, 
if  it  adds  to  the  force  of  his  speech,  and  he  introduces 
this  thought  of  the  new  man,  though  it  som^evvhat 
jars,  in  order  to  impress  on  his  readers  that  what 
they  have  to  put  off  and  on  is  much  more  truly  part 
of  themselves  than  an  article  of  dress  is.  The  "  old 
man  "  is  the  unregenerate  self ;  the  new  man  is,  of 
course,  the  regenerate  self,  the  new  Christian  moral 
nature  personified.  There  is  a  deeper  self  which 
remains  the  same  throughout  the  change,  the  true 
man,  the  centre  of  personality  ;  which  is,  as  it  were, 
draped  in  the  moral  nature,  and  can  put  it  off  and 
on.  I  myself  change  myself.  The  figure  is  vehe- 
ment, and,  if  you  will,  paradoxical,  but  it  expresses 
accurately  and  forcibly  at  once  the  depth  of  the 
change  -^hich  passes  on  him  who  becomes  a  Chris- 
tian, and  the  identity  of  the  person  through  all 
change.  If  I  am  a  Christian,  there  has  passed  on 
me  a  change  so  thorough  that  it  is  in  one  aspect  a 
death,  and  in  another  a  resurrection  ;  in  one  aspect 
it  is  a  putting  off  not  merely  of  some  garb  of  action, 
but  of  the  old  man^  and  in  another  a  putting  on  not 
merely  of  some  surface  renovation,  but  of  a  new 
man — which  is  yet  the  same  old  self. 

This  entire  change  is  taken  for  granted  by  Paul 
as  having  been  realised  in  every  Christian.  It  is 
here  treated  as  having  taken  place  at  a  certain  point 
of  time,  namely  when  these  Colossians  began  to  put 
their  trust  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  profession  of  that 
trust,  and  as  a  symbol  of  that  change,  were  baptized. 

Of  course  the  contrast  between  the  character 
before  and   after  faith  in   Christ  is  strongest  when, 


Col.  iii.  9- 1 1 .]  THE  NE  W  NA  TURE,  293 

like  the  Christians  at  Colossae,  converts  have  been 
brought  out  of  heathenism.  With  us,  where  some 
knowledge  of  Christianity  is  widely  diffused,  and  its 
indirect  influence  has  shaped  the  characters  even  of 
those  who  reject  it,  there  is  less  room  for  a  marked 
revolution  in  character  and  conduct.  There  will  be 
many  true  saints  who  can  point  to  no  sudden  change 
as  their  conversion  ;  but  have  grown  up,  sometimes 
from  childhood,  under  Christian  influences,  or  who, 
if  they  have  distinctly  been  conscious  of  a  change, 
have  passed  through  it  as  gradually  as  night  passes 
into  day.  Be  it  so.  In  many  respects  that  will 
be  the  highest  form  of  experience.  Yet  even  such 
souls  will  be  aware  of  a  "  new  man "  formed  in 
them  which  is  at  variance  with  their  own  old  selves, 
and  will  not  escape  the  necessity  of  the  conflict  with 
their  lower  nature,  the  immolation  and  casting  off 
of  the  unregenerate  self.  But  there  are  also  many 
people  who  have  grown  up  without  God  or  Christ, 
who  must  become  Christians  by  the  way  of  sudden 
conversion,  if  they  are  ever  to  become  Christians 
at  all. 

Why  should  such  sudden  change  be  regarded 
as  impossible  ?  Is  it  not  a  matter  of  everyday 
experience  that  some  long  ignored  principle  may 
suddenly  come,  like  a  meteor  into  the  atmosphere, 
into  a  man's  mind  and  will,  may  catch  fire  as  it 
travels,  and  may  explode  and  blow  to  pieces  the 
solid  habits  of  a  lifetime  ?  And  why  should  not  the 
truth  concerning  God's  great  love  in  Christ,  which 
in  too  sad  certainty  is  ignored  by  many,  flame  in 
upon  blind  eyes,  and  change  the  look  of  everything  } 
The  New  Testament  doctrine  of  conversion  asserts 
that    it    may    and   does.     It    does    not    insist  that 


294  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

everybody  must  become  a  Christian  in  the  same 
fashion.  Sometimes  there  will  be  a  dividing  line 
between  the  two  states,  as  sharp  as  the  boundary 
of  adjoining  kingdoms  ;  sometimes  the  one  will  melt 
imperceptibly  into  the  other.  Sometimes  the  revolu- 
tion will  be  as  swift  as  that  of  the  wheel  of  a 
locomotive,  sometimes  slow  and  silent  as  the  move- 
ment of  a  planet  in  the  sky.  The  main  thing  is 
that  whether  suddenly  or  slowly  the  face  shall  be 
turned  to  God. 

But  however  brought  about,  this  putting  off  of 
the  old  sinful  self,  is  a  certain  mark  of  a  Christian 
man.  It  can  be  assumed  as  true  universally,  and 
appealed  to  as  the  basis  of  exhortations  such  as 
those  of  the  context.  Believing  certain  truths  does 
not  make  a  Christian.  If  there  have  been  any 
reality  in  the  act  by  which  we  have  laid  hold  of 
Christ  as  our  Saviour,  our  whole  being  will  be 
revolutionized  ;  old  things  will  have  passed  away — 
tastes,  desires,  ways  of  looking  at  the  world,  memories, 
habits,  pricks  of  conscience  and  all  cords  that  bound 
us  to  our  God-forgetting  past — and  all  things  will 
have  become  new,  because  we  ourselves  move  in  the 
midst  of  the  old  things  as  new  creatures  with  new 
love  burning  in  our  hearts  and  new  motives  changing 
all  our  lives,  and  a  new  aim  shining  before  us,  and 
a  new  hope  illuminating  the  blackness  beyond,  and 
a  new  song  on  our  lips,  and  a  new  power  in  our 
hands,  and  a  new  Friend  by  our  sides. 

This  is  a  wholesome  and  most  needful  test  for  all 
who  call  themselves  Christians,  and  who  are  often 
tempted  to  put  too  much  stress  on  believing  and 
feeling,  and  to  forget  the  supreme  importance  of  the 
moral  change  which  true  Christianity  effects.     Nor 


Col.  ill.  9- 1 1.]  THE  NEW  NATURE.  295 

is  it  less  needful  to  remember  that  this  resolute 
casting  off  of  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh,  and 
putting  on  of  the  new  man,  is  a  consequence  of  faith 
in  Christ  and  is  only  possible  as  a  consequence. 
Nothing  else  will  strip  the  foul  robes  from  a  man. 
The  moral  change  comes  second,  the  union  with 
Jesus  Christ  by  faith  must  come  first.  To  try  to 
begin  with  the  second  stage,  is  like  trying  to  begin 
to  build  a  house  at  the  second  story. 

But  there  is  a  practical  conclusion  drawn  from 
this  taken-for-granted  change.  Our  text  is  intro- 
duced by  "  seeing  that  ; "  and  though  some  doubts 
may  be  raised  as  to  that  translation  and  the  logical 
connection  of  the  paragraph,  it  appears  on  the  whole 
most  congruous  with  both  the  preceding  and  the 
following  context,  to  retain  it  and  to  see  here  the 
reason  for  the  exhortation  which  goes  before — "  Put 
off  all  these,"  and  for  that  which  follows — "  Put  on, 
therefore,"  the  beautiful  garment  of  love  and  com- 
passion. 

That  great  change,  though  taking  place  in  the 
inmost  nature  whensoever  a  heart  turns  to  Christ, 
needs  to  be  wrought  into  character,  and  to  be 
wrought  out  in  conduct.  The  leaven  is  in  the  dough, 
but  to  knead  it  thoroughly  into  the  mass  is  a  life- 
long task,  which  is  only  accomplished  by  our  own 
continually  repeated  efforts.  The  old  garment  clings 
to  the  limbs  like  the  wet  clothes  of  a  half-drowned 
man,  and  it  takes  the  work  of  a  lifetime  to  get  quite 
rid  of  it.  The  "  old  man  "  dies  hard,  and  we  have 
to  repeat  the  sacrifice  hour  by  hour.  The  new  man 
has  to  be  put  on  afresh  day  by  day. 

So  the  apparently  illogical  exhortation.  Put  off 
what  you  have  put  off,  and  put  on  what  you  have 


296  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

put  on,  is  fully  vindicated.  It  means,  Be  consistent 
with  your  deepest  selves.  Carry  out  in  detail  what 
you  have  already  done  in  bulk.  Cast  out  the  enemy, 
already  ejected  from  the  central  fortress,  from  the 
isolated  positions  which  he  still  occupies.  You 
may  put  off  the  old  man,  for  he  is  put  off  already  ; 
and  the  confidence  that  he  is  will  give  you  strength 
for  the  struggle  that  still  remains.  You  must  put 
off  the  old  man,  for  there  is  still  danger  of  his  again 
wrapping  his  poisonous  rags  about  your  limbs. 

II.  We  have  here,  the  continuous  growth  of  the 
new  man,  its  aim  and  pattern. 

The  thought  of  the  garment  passes  for  the 
moment  out  of  sight,  and  the  Apostle  enlarges  on 
the  greatness  and  glory  of  this  "  new  man,"  partly 
as  a  stimulus  to  obeying  the  exhortation,  partly, 
with  allusion  to  some  of  the  errors  which  he  had 
been  combating,  and  partly  because  his  fervid  spirit 
kindles  at  the  mention  of  the  mighty  transformation. 

The  new  man,  says  he,  is  "  being  renewed." 
This  is  one  of  the  instances  where  minute  accuracy 
in  translation  is  not  pedantic,  but  clear  gain.  When 
we  say,  with  the  Authorised  Version,  "  is  renewed," 
we  speak  of  a  completed  act ;  when  we  say  with  the 
Revised  Version,  "  is  being  renewed,"  we  speak  of  a 
continuous  process  ;  and  there  can  be  no  question 
that  the  latter  is  the  true  idea  intended  here.  The 
growth  of  the  new  man  is  constant,  perhaps  slow 
and  difficult  to  discern,  if  the  intervals  of  comparison 
be  short.  But  like  all  habits  and  powers  it  steadily 
increases.  On  the  other  hand,  a  similar  process 
works  to  opposite  i  ssults  in  the  "  old  man,"  which, 
as  Paul  says  in  the  instructive  parallel  passage  in 
the    Epistle    to    the    Ephesians   (iv.    22),    **  waxeth 


Col.  ill.  9-1 1.]  THE  NEW  NATURE,  297 

corrupt,  after  the  lusts  of  deceit."  Both  grow- 
according  to  their  inmost  nature,  the  one  steadily 
upwards  ;  the  other  with  accelerating  speed  down- 
wards, till  they  are  parted  by  the  whole  distance 
between  the  highest  heaven  and  the  lowest  abyss. 
So  mystic  and  awful  is  that  solemn  law  of  the 
persistent  increase  of  the  true  ruling  tendency  of  a 
man's  nature,  and  its  certain  subjugation  of  the 
whole  man  to  itself! 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  this  renewing  is  repre- 
sented in  this  clause,  as  done  on  the  new  man,  not 
by  him.  We  have  heard  the  exhortation  to  a 
continuous  appropriation  and  increase  of  the  new 
life  by  our  own  efforts.  But  there  is  a  Divine  side 
too,  and  the  renewing  is  not  merely  effected  by  us, 
nor  due  only  to  the  vital  power  of  the  new  man, 
though  growth  is  the  sign  of  life  there  as  every- 
where, but  is  "  the  renewing  by  the  Holy  Ghost," 
whose  touch  quickens  and  whose  indwelling  reno- 
vates the  inward  man  day  by  day.  So  there  is 
hope  for  us  in  our  striving,  for  He  helps  us;  and 
the  thought  of  that  Divine  renewal  is  not  a  pillow 
for  indolence,  but  a  spur  to  intenser  energy,  as  Paul 
well  knew  when  he  wove  the  apparent  paradox, 
"  work  out  your  own  salvation,  for  it  is  God  that 
worketh  in  you." 

The  new  man  is  being  renewed  "  unto  knowledge." 
An  advanced  knowledge  of  God  and  Divine  realities 
is  the  result  of  the  progressive  renewal.  Possibly 
there  may  be  a  passing  reference  to  the  pretensions 
of  the  false  teachers,  who  had  so  much  to  say  about 
a  higher  wisdom  open  to  the  initiated,  and  to  be 
won  by  ceremonial  and  asceticism.  Their  claims, 
hints  Paul,  are  baseless  ;  their  pretended  secrets  a 


298  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

delusion  ;  their  method  of  attaining  them  a  snare. 
There  is  but  one  way  to  press  into  the  depths  of  the 
knowledge  of  God — namely  growth  into  His  like- 
ness. We  understand  one  another  best  by  sympathy. 
We  know  God  only  on  condition  of  resemblance. 
"  If  the  eye  were  not  sunlike  how  could  it  see  the 
sun  ? "  says  Goethe.  "  If  thou  beest  this,  thou 
seest  this,"  said  Plotinus.  Ever,  as  we  grow  in 
resemblance,  shall  we  grow  in  knowledge,  and  ever 
as  we  grow -in  knowledge,  shall  we  grow  in  resem- 
blance. So  in  perpetual  action  and  reaction  of 
being  and  knowing,  shall  we  draw  nearer  and 
nearer  the  unapproachable  light,  and  receiving  it  full 
on  our  faces,  shall  be  changed  into  the  same  image, 
as  the  moonbeams  that  touch  the  dark  ocean  trans- 
figure its  waves  into  silver  radiance  like  their  own. 
For  all  simple  souls,  bewildered  by  the  strife  of 
tongues  and  unapt  for  speculation,  this  is  a  message 
of  gladness,  that  the  way  to  know  God  is  to  be  like 
Him,  and  the  way  to  be  like  Him  is  to  be  renewed 
in  the  inward  man,  and  the  way  to  be  renewed  in 
the  inward  man  is  to  put  on  Christ.  They  may 
wrangle  and  philosophize  who  will,  but  the  path 
to  God  leads  far  away  from  all  that.  It  may  be 
trodden  by  a  child's  foot,  and  the  wayfaring  man 
though  a  fool  shall  not  err  therein,  for  all  that  is 
needed  is  a  heart  that  desires  to  know  Him,  and 
is  made  like  Him  by  love.  Half  the  secret  lies  in 
the  great  word  which  tells  us  that  "  we  shall  be  like 
Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is,"  and  know- 
ledge will  work  likeness.  The  other  half  lies  in  the 
great  word  which  tells  us  that  "  blessed  are  the  pure 
in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God,"  and  likeness  will 
work  a  more  perfect  knowledge. 


Col.  Hi.  9-".]  THE  NEW  NATURE.  299 

Tviis  new  man  is  being  renewed  after  the  image  of 
Him  that  created  him.  As  in  the  first  creation  man 
was  made  in  the  image  of  God,  so  in  the  new 
creation.  From  the  first  moment  in  which  the 
supernatural  Hfe  is  derived  from  Christ  into  the  re- 
generated spirit,  that  new  Hfe  is  Hke  its  source.  It 
is  kindred,  therefore  it  is  Hke,  as  all  derived  life  is. 
The  child's  life  is  like  the  father's.  But  the  image 
of  God  which  the  new  man  bears  is  more  than  that 
which  was  stamped  on  man  in  his  creation.  That 
consisted  mainly,  if  not  wholly,  in  the  reasonable 
soul,  and  the  self-conscious  personality,  the  broad 
distinctions  which  separate  man  from  other  animals. 
The  image  of  God  is  often  said  to  have  been  lost 
by  sin,  but  Scripture  seems  rather  to  consider  it 
as  inseparable  from  humanity,  even  when  stained  by 
transgression.  Men  are  still  images  of  God,  though 
darkened  and  "carved  in  ebony."  The  coin  bears 
His  image  and  superscription,  though  rusty  and  de- 
faced. But  the  image  of  God,  which  the  new  man 
bears  from  the  beginning  in  a  rudimentary  form,  and 
which  is  continually  imprinting  itself  more  deeply 
upon  him,  has  for  its  principal  feature  holiness. 
Though  the  majestic  infinitudes  of  God  can  have 
no  likeness  in  man,  however  exalted,  and  our  feeble- 
ness cannot  copy  His  strength,  nor  our  poor  blind 
knowledge,  with  its  vast  circumference  of  ignorance, 
be  like  His  ungrowing  and  unerring  knowledge,  we 
may  be  "holy  as  He  is  holy";  we  may  be  "imi- 
tators of  God  as  beloved  children,  and  walk  in  love 
as  He  hath  loved  us  " ;  we  may  "  ivalk  in  the  light 
as  He  is  in  the  light,"  with  only  the  difference 
between  His  calm,  eternal  being,  and  our  changeful 
and  progressive  motion  th  vein  ;  we  may  even  "  he 


300  THE  EPISTI^E   TO   THE   COLO  SSI ANS. 

perfect  as  our  Father  is  perfect."  This  is  the  end 
of  all  our  putting  off  the  old  and  putting  on  the  new. 
This  is  the  ultimate  purpose  of  God,  in  all  His  self- 
revelation.  For  this  Christ  has  come  and  died  and 
lives.  For  this  the  Spirit  of  God  dwells  in  us.  This 
is  the  immortal  hope  with  which  we  may  re-create 
and  encourage  our  souls  in  our  often  weary  struggles. 
Even  our  poor  sinful  natures  may  be  transformed 
into  that  wondrous  likeness.  Coal  and  diamond  are 
but  varying  forms  of  carbon,  and  the  blackest  lump 
dug  from  the  deepest  mine,  may  be  transmuted  by 
the  alchemy  of  that  wondrous  transforming  union 
with  Christ,  into  a  brightness  that  shall  flash  back 
all  the  glory  of  the  sunlight,  and  gleam  for  ever,  set 
in  one  of  His  many  crowns. 

HI.  We  have  here  finally  the  grand  unity  of  this 
new  creation. 

We  may  reverse  the  order  of  the  words  as  they 
stand  here,  and  consider  the  last  clause  first,  inas- 
much as  it  is  the  reason  for  the  doing  away  of  all 
distinctions  of  race,  or  ceremony,  or  culture,  or  social 
condition. 

"  Christ  is  all."  Wherever  that  new  nature  is 
found,  it  lives  by  the  life  of  Christ.  He  dwells  in 
all  who  possess  it.  The  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  is  in 
them.  His  blood  passes  into  their  veins.  The  holy 
desires,  the  new  tastes,  the  kindling  love,  the  clearer 
vision,  the  gentleness  and  the  strength,  and  what- 
soever things  beside  are  lovely  and  of  good  report, 
are  all  His — nay,  we  may  say,  are  all  Himself. 

And,  of  course,  all  who  are  His  are  partakers  of  that 
common  gift,  and  He  is  in  all.  There  is  no  privi- 
leged class  in  Christ's  Church,  as  these  false  teachers 
in  Colossse  had  taught.     Against  every  attempt  to 


Col.  iii.9-ii.]  THE  NEW  NATURE.  301 

limit  the  universality  of  the  gospel,  whether  it  came 
from  Jewish  Pharisees  or  Eastern  philosophers,  Paul 
protested  with  his  whole  soul.  He  has  done  so 
already  in  this  Epistle,  and  does  so  here  in  his 
emphatic  assertion  that  Christ  was  not  the  possession 
of  an  aristocracy  of  "  intelligence,"  but  belonged  to 
every  soul  that  trusted  Him. 

Necessarily,  therefore,  surface  distinctions  disap- 
pear. There  is  triumph  in  the  roll  of  his  rapid 
enumeration  of  these  clefts  that  have  so  long  kept 
brothers  apart,  and  are  now  being  filled  up.  He 
looks  round  on  a  world,  the  antagonisms  of  which 
v»^e  can  but  faintly  imagine,  and  his  eye  kindles  and 
his  voice  rises  into  vibrating  emotion,  as  he  thinks 
of  the  mighty  magnetism  that  is  drawing  enemies 
towards  the  one  centre  in  Christ.  His  catalogue 
here  may  profitably  be  compared  with  his  other  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  (iii.  28).  There  he 
enumerates  the  three  great  distinctions  which  parted 
the  old  world  :  race  (Jew  and  Greek),  social  con- 
dition (bond  and  free),  and  sex  (male  and  female.) 
These,  he  says,  as  separating  powers,  are  done  away 
in  Christ.  Here  the  list  is  modified,  probably  with 
reference  to  the  errors  in  the  Colossian  Church. 

"  There  cannot  be  Greek  and  Jew."  The  cleft  of 
national  distinctions,  which  certainly  never  yawned 
more  widely  than  between  the  Jew  and  every  other 
people,  ceases  to  separate,  and  the  teachers  who  had 
been  trying  to  perpetuate  that  distinction  in  the 
Church  were  blind  to  the  very  meaning  of  the 
gospel.  "  Circumcision  and  uncircumcision  "  sepa- 
rated. Nothing  makes  deeper  and  bitterer  anta- 
gonisms than  differences  in  religious  forms,  and 
people    who    have    not    been    born    into    them    are 


302  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

usually  the  most  passionate  in  adherence  to  them,  so 
that  cleft  did  not  entirely  coincide  with  the  former. 
"  Barbarian,  Scythian,"  is  not  an  antithesis,  but  a 
climax — the  Scythians  were  looked  upon  as  the 
most  savage  of  barbarians.  The  Greek  contempt 
for  the  outside  races,  which  is  reflected  in  this 
clause,  was  largely  the  contempt  for  a  supposed 
lower  stage  of  culture.  As  we  have  seen,  Colossae 
especially  needed  the  lesson  that  differences  in  culture 
disappeared  in  the  unity  of  Christ,  for  the  heretical 
teachers  attached  great  importance  to  the  wisdom 
which  they  professed  to  impart.  A  cultivated  class 
is  always  tempted  to  superciliousness,  and  a  half  cul- 
tivated class  is  even  more  so.  There  is  abundance 
of  that  arrogance  born  of  education  among  us  to- 
day, and  sorely  needing  and  quite  disbelieving  the 
teaching  that  there  are  things  which  can  make  up 
for  the  want  of  what  it  possesses.  It  is  in  the 
interest  of  the  humble  virtues  of  the  uneducated 
godly  as  well  as  of  the  nations  called  uncivilized, 
that  Christianity  wars  against  that  most  heartless 
and  ruinous  of  all  prides,  the  pride  of  culture,  by  its 
proclamation  that  in  Christ,  barbarian,  Scythian 
and  the  most  polished  thinker  or  scholar  are  one. 

"  Bondman,  freeman "  is  again  an  antithesis. 
That  gulf  between  master  and  slave  was  indeed  wide 
and  deep  ;  too  wide  for  compassion  to  cross,  though 
not  for  hatred  to  stride  over.  The  untold  miseries 
of  slavery  in  the  old  world  are  but  dimly  known  ; 
but  it  and  war  and  the  degradation  of  women  made 
an  infernal  trio  which  crushed  more  than  half  the 
race  into  a  hell  of  horrors.  Perhaps  Paul  may  have 
been  the  more  ready  to  add  this  clause  to  his  cata- 
logue because  his  thoughts  had  been  occupied  with 


Col.  iU.  9-1 1.]  THE  NEW  NATURE.  303 

the  relation  of  master  and  slave  on  the  occasion  of 
the  letter  to  Philemon  which  was  sent  along  with 
this  to  Colossae. 

Christianity  waged  no  direct  war  against  these 
social  evils  of  antiquity,  but  it  killed  them  much 
more  effectually  by  breathing  into  the  conscience  of 
the  world  truths  which  made  their  continuance  im- 
possible. It  girdled  the  tree,  and  left  it  to  die — 
a  much  better  and  more  thorough  plan  than  drag- 
ging it  out  of  the  ground  by  main  force.  Revolution 
cures  nothing.  The  only  way  to  get  rid  of  evils 
engrained  in  the  constitution  of  society  is  to  elevate 
and  change  the  tone  of  thought  and  feeling,  and 
then  they  die  of  atrophy.  Change  the  climate,  and 
you  change  the  vegetation.  Until  you  do,  neither 
mowing  nor  uprooting  will  get  rid  of  the  foul 
growths. 

So  the  gospel  does  with  all  these  lines  of  de- 
marcation between  men.  What  becomes  of  them  } 
What  becomes  of  the  ridges  of  sand  that  separate 
pool  from  pool  at  low  water  ?  The  tide  comes  up 
over  them  and  makes  them  all  one,  gathered  into 
the  oneness  of  the  great  sea.  They  may  remain, 
but  they  are  seen  no  more,  and  the  roll  of  the  wave 
is  not  interrupted  by  them.  The  powers  and  bless- 
ings of  the  Christ  pass  freely  from  heart  to  heart, 
hindered  by  no  barriers.  Christ  founds  a  deeper 
unity  independent  of  all  these  superficial  distinctions, 
for  the  very  conception  of  humanity  is  the  product 
of  Christianity,  and  the  true  foundation  for  the 
brotherhood  of  mankind  is  the  revelation  in  Christ 
of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  Christ  is  the  brother 
of  us  all ;  His  death  is  for  every  man  ;  the  blessing 
of  His  gospel  is  offered  to  each;  He  will  dwell  in 


304  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

the  heart  of  any.  Therefore  all  distinctions,  national, 
ceremonial,  intellectual  or  social,  fade  into  nothing- 
ness. Love  is  of  no  nation,  and  Christ  is  the  pro- 
perty of  no  aristocracy  in  the  Church.  That  great 
truth  was  a  miraculous  new  thing  in  that  old  world, 
all  torn  apart  by  deep  clefts  like  the  grim  canons 
of  American  rivers.  Strange  it  must  have  seemed 
to  find  slaves  and  their  masters,  Jew  and  Greek, 
sitting  at  one  table  and  bound  in  fraternal  ties. 
The  world  has  not  yet  fully  grasped  that  truth,  and 
the  Church  has  woefully  failed  in  showing  it  to  be 
a  reality.  But  it  arches  above  all  our  wars,  and 
schisms,  and  wretched  class  distinctions,  like  a  rain- 
bow of  promise,  beneath  whose  open  portal  the 
world  shall  one  day  pass  into  that  bright  land  where 
the  wandering  peoples  shall  gather  together  in  peace 
round  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  there  shall  be  one  fold 
because  there  is  one  Shepherd. 


XX. 

THE  GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL, 

**Put  on  therefore,  as  God's  elect,  holy  and  beloved,  a  heart  of 
compassion,  kindness,  humility,  meekness,  longsuffering  ;  forbearing 
one  another,  and  forgiving  each  other,  if  any  man  have  a  complaint 
against  any  ;  even  as  the  Lord  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye  :  and  above  all 
these  things  put  on  love,  which  is  the  bond  of  perfectness." — CoL.  iii. 
12-14  (Rev.  Ver.). 

WE  need  not  repeat  what  has  been  already- 
said  as  to  the  logic  of  the  inference,  You 
have  put  off  the  "  old  man,"  therefore  put  off  the 
vices  which  belong  to  him.  Here  we  have  the  same 
argument  in  reference  to  the  "  new  man  "  who  is  to  be 
"  put  on  "  because  he  has  been  put  on.  This  "  there- 
fore "  rests  the  exhortation  both  on  that  thought, 
and  on  the  nearer  words,  "  Christ  is  all  and  in  all." 
Because  the  new  nature  has  been  assumed  in  the 
very  act  of  conversion,  therefore  array  your  souls  in 
vesture  corresponding.  Because  Christ  is  all  and 
in  all,  therefore  clothe  yourselves  with  all  brotherly 
graces,  corresponding  to  the  great  unity  into  which 
all  Christians  are  brought  by  their  common  posses- 
sion of  Christ.  The  whole  field  of  Christian  morality- 
is  not  traversed  here,  but  only  so  much  of  it  as 
concerns  the  social  duties  which  result  from  that 
unity. 

But  besides   the  foundation  for  the  exhortations 

20 


3o6  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

which  is  laid  in  the  possession  of  the  "  New  Man," 
consequent  on  participation  in  Christ,  another  ground 
for  them  is  added  in  the  words,  "as  God's  elect, 
holy  and  beloved."  Those  who  are  in  Christ  and 
are  thus  regenerated  in  Him,  are  of  the  chosen  race, 
are  consecrated  as  belonging  especially  to  God,  and 
receive  the  warm  beams  of  the  special  paternal  love 
with  which  He  regards  the  men  who  are  in  some 
measure  conformed  to  His  likeness  and  moulded 
after  His  will.  That  relation  to  God  should  draw 
after  it  a  life  congruous  with  itself — a  life  of  active 
goodness  and  brotherly  gentleness.  The  outcome  of 
it  should  be  not  mere  glad  emotion,  nor  a  hugging 
of  one's  self  in  one's  happiness,  but  practical  efforts 
to  turn  to  men  a  face  lit  by  the  same  dispositions 
with  which  God  has  looked  on  us,  or  as  the  parallel 
passage  in  Ephesians  has  it,  "  Be  imitators  of  God, 
as  beloved  children."  That  is  a  wide  and  fruitful 
principle — the  relation  to  men  will  follow  the  relation 
to  God.  As  we  think  God  has  been  to  us,  so  let 
us  try  to  be  to  others.  The  poorest  little  fishing 
cobble  is  best  guided  by  celestial  observations,  and 
dead  reckoning  without  sun  or  stars  is  but  second 
best.  Independent  morality  cut  loose  from  religion 
will  be  feeble  morality.  On  the  other  hand,  religion 
which  does  not  issue  in  morality  is  a  ghost  with- 
out substance.  Religion  is  the  soul  of  morality. 
Morality  is  the  body  of  religion,  more  than  cere- 
monial worship  is.  The  virtues  which  all  men  know, 
are  the  fitting  garments  of  the  elect  of  God. 

I.  We  have  here  then  an  enumeration  of  the  fair 
garments  of  the  new  man. 

Let  us  go  over  the  items  of  this  list  of  the  ward- 
robe of  the  consecrated  soul. 


Col. iii.  12-14.]    GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL.    307 

"  A  heart  of  compassion."  So  the  Revised  Version 
renders  the  words  given  literally  in  the  Authorised 
as  "  bowels  of  mercies,"  an  expression  which  that 
very  strange  thing  called  conventional  propriety 
regards  as  coarse,  simply  because  Jews  chose  one 
part  of  the  body  and  we  another  as  the  supposed 
seat  of  the  emotions.  Either  phrase  expresses  sub- 
stantially the  Apostle's  meaning. 

Is  it  not  beautiful  that  the  series  should  begin 
with  pity  ?  It  is  the  most  often  needed,  for  the  sea 
of  sorrow  stretches  so  widely  that  nothing  less  than 
a  universal  compassion  can  arch  it  over  as  v/ith  the 
blue  of  heaven.  Every  man  would  seem  in  some 
respect  deserving  of  and  needing  sympathy,  if  his 
whole  heart  and  history  could  be  laid  bare.  Such 
compassion  is  difficult  to  achieve,  for  its  healing 
streams  are  dammed  back  by  many  obstructions  of 
inattention  and  occupation,  and  dried  up  by  the 
fierce  heat  of  selfishness.  Custom,  with  its  deaden- 
ing influence,  comes  in  to  make  us  feel  least  the 
sorrows  which  are  most  common  in  the  society 
around  us.  As  a  man  might  live  so  long  in  an 
asylum  that  lunacy  would  seem  to  him  almost  the 
normal  condition,  so  the  most  widely  diffused  griefs 
are  those  least  observed  and  least  compassionated  ; 
and  good,  tender-hearted  men  and  women  walk  the 
streets  of  our  great  cities  and  see  sights — children 
growing  up  for  the  gallows  and  the  devil,  gin-shops 
at  every  corner — which  might  maKe  angels  weep, 
and  suppose  them  to  be  as  inseparable  from  our 
"  civilization  "  as  the  noise  of  wheels  from  a  carriage 
or  bilge  water  from  a  ship.  Therefore  we  have  to 
make  conscious  efforts  to  "  put  on  "  that  sympathetic 
disposition,   and   to   fight   against   the  faults   which 


3o8  THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

hinder  its  free  play.  Without  it,  no  help  will  be  of 
much  use  to  the  receiver,  nor  of  any  to  the  giver. 
Benefits  bestowed  on  the  needy  and  sorrowful,  if 
bestowed  without  sympathy,  will  hurt  like  a  blow. 
Much  is  said  about  ingratitude,  but  very  often  it  is 
but  the  instinctive  recoil  of  the  heart  from  the  unkind 
doer  of  a  kindness.  Aid  flung  to  a  man  as  a  bone 
is  to  a  dog  usually  gets  as  much  gratitude  as  the 
sympathy  which  it  expresses  deserves.  But  if  we 
really  make  another's  sorrows  ours,  that  teaches  us 
tact  and  gentleness,  and  makes  our  clumsy  hands 
light  and  deft  to  bind  up  sore  hearts. 

Above  all  things,  the  practical  discipline  which 
cultivates  pity  will  beware  of  letting  it  be  excited 
and  then  not  allowing  the  emotion  to  act.  To 
stimulate  feeling  and  do  nothing  in  consequence  is 
a  short  road  to  destroy  the  feeling.  Pity  is  meant 
to  be  the  impulse  toward  help,  and  if  it  is  checked 
and  suffered  to  pass  away  idly,  it  is  weakened,  as 
certainly  as  a  plant  is  weakened  by  being  kept  close 
nipped  and  hindered  from  bringing  its  buds  to  flower 
and  fruit. 

"  Kindness  "  comes  next — a  wider  benignity,  not 
only  exercised  where  there  is  manifest  room  for 
pity,  but  turning  a  face  of  goodwill  to  all.  Some 
souls  are  so  dowered  that  they  have  this  grace  with- 
out effort,  and  come  like  the  sunshine  with  welcome 
and  cheer  for  all  the  world.  But  even  less  happily 
endowed  natures  can  cultivate  the  disposition,  and 
the  best  way  to  cultivate  it  is  to  be  much  in  com- 
munion with  God.  When  Moses  came  down  from 
the  mount,  his  face  shone.  When  we  come  out  from 
the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High  we  shall  bear 
some  reflection  of  His  great  kindness  whose  "  tender 


Col.iii.  12-14.]    GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL.    309 

mercies  are  over  alJ  His  works."  This  "  kindness  " 
is  the  opposite  of  that  worldly  wisdom,  on  which 
many  men  pride  themselves  as  the  ripe  fruit  of  their 
knowledge  of  men  and  things,  and  which  keeps  up 
vigilant  suspicion  of  everybody,  as  in  the  savage 
state,  where  "  stranger  "  and  "  enemy  "  had  only  one 
word  between  them.  It  does  not  require  us  to  be 
blind  to  facts  or  to  live  in  fancies,  but  it  does  require 
us  to  cherish  a  habit  of  goodwill,  ready  to  become 
pity  if  sorrow  appears,  and  slow  to  turn  away  even 
if  hostility  appears.  Meet  your  brother  with  kind- 
ness, and  you  will  generally  find  it  returned.  The 
prudent  hypocrites  who  get  on  in  the  world,  as  ships 
are  launched,  by  "  greasing  the  ways  "  with  flattery, 
and  smiles,  teach  us  the  value  of  the  true  thing,  since 
even  a  coarse  caricature  of  it  wins  hearts  and  disarms 
foes.  This  "  kindness  "  is  the  most  powerful  solvent 
of  illwill  and  indifference. 

Then  follows  "  humility."  That  seems  to  break 
the  current  of  thought  by  bringing  a  virtue  entirely 
occupied  with  self  into  the  middle  of  a  series  refer- 
ring exclusively  to  others.  But  it  does  not  really  do 
so.  From  this  point  onwards  all  the 'graces  named 
have  reference  to  our  demeanour  under  slights  and 
injuries — and  humility  comes  into  view  here  only  as 
constituting  the  foundation  for  the  right  bearing  of 
these.  Meekness  and  longsuffering  must  stand  on 
a  basis  of  humility.  The  proud  man,  who  thinks 
highly  of  himself  and  of  his  own  claims,  will  be  the 
touchy  man,  if  any  one  derogates  from  these. 

"  Humility,"  or  lowly-mindedness,  a  lowly  esti- 
mate of  ourselves,  is  not  necessarily  blindness  to  our 
strong  points.  If  a  man  can  do  certain  things  better 
than  his  neighbours,  he  can  hardly  help  knowing  it, 


310  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

and  Christian  humility  does  not  require  him  to  be 
ignorant  of  it.  I  suppose  Milton  would  be  none  the 
less  humble,  though  he  was  quite  sure  that  his  work 
was  better  than  that  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins. 
The  consciousness  of  power  usually  accompanies 
power.  But  though  it  may  be  quite  right  to  "  know 
myself  "  in  the  strong  points,  as  well  as  in  the  weak, 
there  are  two  considerations  which  should  act  as 
dampers  to  any  unchristian  fire  of  pride  which  the 
devil's  breath  may  blow  up  from  that  fuel.  The 
one  is,  "  What  hast  thou  that  thou  hast  not  re- 
ceived ? "  the  other  is,  "  Who  is  pure  before  God's 
judgment-seat  ? "  Your  strong  points  are  nothing 
so  very  wonderful,  after  all.  If  you  have  better 
brains  than  some  of  your  neighbours,  well,  that  is 
not  a  thing  to  give  yourself  such  airs  about.  Besides, 
where  did  you  get  the  faculties  you  plume  yourself 
on }  However  cultivated  by  yourself,  how  came 
they  yours  at  first.'*  And,  furthermore,  whatever 
superiorities  may  lift  you  above  any  men,  and  how- 
ever high  you  may  be  elevated,  it  is  a  long  way  from 
the  top  of  the  highest  molehill  to  the  sun,  and  not 
much  longer  to  the  top  of  the  lowest.  And,  besides 
all  that,  you  may  be  very  clever  and  brilliant,  may 
have  made  books  or  pictures,  may  have  stamped 
your  name  on  some  invention,  may  have  won  a 
place  in  public  life,  or  made  a  fortune — and  yet  you 
and  the  beggar  who  cannot  write  his  name  are  both 
guilty  before  God.  Pride  seems  out  of  place  in 
creatures  like  us,  who  have  all  to  bow  our  heads  in 
the  presence  of  His  perfect  judgment,  and  cry,  "God 
be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner !  " 

Then     follow    "  meekness,    long-suffering."       The 
distinction  between  these  two  is  slight.     According 


Col.iu.i2.H-]    GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL.    311 

to  the  most  thorough  investigators,  the  former  is  the 
temper  which  accepts  God's  dealings,  or  evil  inflicted 
by  men  as  His  instruments,  without  resistance,  while 
the  latter  is  the  long  holding  out  of  the  mind  before 
it  gives  way  to  a  temptation  to  action,  or  passion, 
especially  the  latter.  The  opposite  of  meekness  is 
rudeness  or  harshness  ;  the  opposite  of  long-suffering, 
swift  resentment  or  revenge.  Perhaps  there  may  be 
something  in  the  distinction,  that  while  long-suffer- 
ing does  not  get  angry  soon,  meekness  does  not  get 
angry  at  all.  Possibly,  too,  meekness  implies  a 
lowlier  position  than  long-suffering  does.  The  meek 
man  puts  himself  below  the  offender ;  the  long- 
suffering  man  does  not.  God  is  long-suffering,  but 
the  incarnate  God  alone  can  be  "  meek  and  lowly." 

The  general  meaning  is  plain  enough.  The  "  hate 
of  hate,"  the  "  scorn  of  scorn,"  is  not  the  Christian 
ideal.  I  am  not  to  allow  my  enemy  always  to 
settle  the  terms  on  which  we  are  to  be.  Why  should 
I  scowl  back  at  him,  though  he  frowns  at  me  "i  It 
is  hard  work,  as  we  all  know,  to  repress  the  retort 
that  would  wound  and  be  so  neat.  It  is  hard  not 
to  repay  slights  and  offences  in  kind.  But,  if  the 
basis  of  our  dispositions  to  others  be  laid  in  a 
wise  and  lowly  estimate  of  ourselves,  such  graces  of 
conduct  will  be  possible,  and  they  will  give  beauty 
to  our  characters. 

"  Forbearing  and  forgiving  "  are  not  new  virtues. 
They  are  meekness  and  long-suffering  in  exercise, 
and  if  we  were  right  in  saying  that  "  long-suffering  " 
was  not  soon  angry,  and  "  meekness "  was  not 
angry  at  all,  then  "  forbearance "  would  correspond 
to  the  former  and  "  forgiveness "  to  the  latter ; 
for    a  '  man    may   exercise    forbearance,    and    bite 


312  THE  EFISTLE    TO    THE   COLOSSI  A  HS. 

his  lips  till  the  blood  come  rather  than  speak,  and 
violently  constrain  himself  to  keep  calm  and  do 
nothing  unkind,  and  yet  all  the  while  seven  devils 
may  be  in  his  spirit  ;  while  forgiveness,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  an  entire  wiping  of  all  enmity  and  irritation 
clean  out  of  the  heart. 

Such  is  the  Apostle's  outline  sketch  of  the 
Christian  character  in  its  social  aspect,  all  rooted 
in  pity,  and  full  of  soft  compassion  ;  quick  to 
apprehend,  to  feel,  and  to  succour  sorrow  ;  a  kind- 
liness, equable  and  widespread,  illuminating  all  who 
come  within  its  reach  ;  a  patient  acceptance  of 
wrongs  without  resentment  or  revenge,  because  a 
lowly  judgment  of  self  and  its  claims,  a  spirit 
schooled  to  calmness  under  all  provocations, disdaining 
to  requite  wrong  by  wrong,  and  quick  to  forgive. 

The  question  may  well  be  asked — is  that  a  type 
of  character  which  the  world  generally  admires  ?  Is 
it  not  uncommonly  like  what  most  people  would 
call  "a  poor  spiritless  creature."  It  was  "a  new 
man,"  most  emphatically,  when  Paul  drew  that 
sketch,  for  the  heathen  world  had  never  seen  any- 
thing like  it.  It  is  a  "new  man"  still ;  for  although 
the  modern  world  has  had  some  kind  of  Christianity 
— at  least  has  had  a  Church — for  all  these  centuries, 
that  is  not  the  kind  of  character  which  is  its  ideal. 
Look  at  the  heroes  of  history  and  of  literature. 
Look  at  the  tone  of  so  much  contemporary  bio- 
graphy and  criticism  of  public  actions.  Think  of 
the  ridicule  which  is  poured  on  the  attempt  to 
regulate  politics  by  Christian  principles,  or,  as  a 
distinguished  soldier  called  them  in  public  recently, 
"  puling  principles."  It  may  be  true  that  Christianity 
has  not  added  any  new  virtues  to  those  which  are 


Col.  iii.  12-14.]    GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL.    313 

prescribed  by  natural  conscience,  but  it  has  most 
certainly  altered  the  perspective  of  the  whole,  and 
created  a  type  of  excellence,  in  which  the  gentler 
virtues  predominate,  and  the  novelty  of  which  is 
proved  by  the  reluctance  of  the  so-called  Christian 
world  to  recognise  it  even  yet. 

By  the  side  of  its  serene  and  lofty  beauty,  the 
"  heroic  virtues  "  embodied  in  the  world's  type  of 
excellence  show  vulgar  and  glaring,  like  some  daub 
representing  a  soldier,  the  sign-post  of  a  public- 
house,  by  the  side  of  Angelico's  white-robed  visions 
on  the  still  convent  walls.  The  highest  exercise  of 
these  more  gaudy  and  conspicuous  qualities  is  to 
produce  the  pity  and  meekness  of  the  Christian 
ideal.  More  self-command,  more  heroic  firmness, 
more  contempt  for  the  popular  estimate,  more  of 
everything  strong  and  manly,  will  find  a  nobler  field 
in  subduing  passion  and  cherishing  forgiveness, 
which  the  world  thinks  folly  and  spiritless,  than  any- 
where else.  Better  is  he  that  ruleth  his  spirit  than 
he  that  taketh  a  city. 

The  great  pattern  and  motive  of  forgiveness  is 
next  set  forth.  We  are  to  forgive  as  Christ  has 
forgiven  us  ;  and  that  '*  as  "  may  be  applied  either 
as  meaning  "  in  like  manner,"  or  as  meaning 
"  because."  The  Revised  Version,  with  many 
others,  adopts  the  various  reading  of  "  the  Lord," 
instead  of  "  Christ,"  which  has  the  advantage  of 
recalling  the  parable  that  was  no  doubt  in  Paul's 
mind,  about  the  servant  who,  having  been  forgiven 
by  his  "  Lord"  all  his  great  debt,  took  his  fellow- 
servant  by  the  throat  and  squeezed  the  last  farthing 
out  of  him. 

The    great    transcendent    act    of    God's    mercy 


314  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

brought  to  US  by  Christ's  cross  is  sometimes,  as  in 
the  parallel  passage  in  Ephesians,  spoken  of  as 
"  God  for  Christ's  sake  forgiving  us,"  and  sometimes 
as  here,  Christ  is  represented  as  forgiving.  We 
need  not  pause  to  do  more  than  point  to  that  inter- 
change of  Divine  office  and  attributes,  and  ask  what 
notion  of  Christ's  person  underlies  it. 

We  have  already  had  the  death  of  Christ  set  forth 
as  in  a  very  profound  sense  our  pattern.  Here  we 
have  one  special  case  of  the  general  law  that  the 
life  and  death  of  our  Lord  are  the  embodied  ideal 
of  human  character  and  conduct.  His  forgiveness  is 
not  merely  revealed  to  us  that  trembling  hearts  may 
be  calm,  and  that  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment 
may  no  more  trouble  a  foreboding  conscience.  For 
whilst  we  must  ever  begin  with  cleaving  to  it  as  our 
hope,  we  must  never  stop  there.  A  heart  touched 
and  softened  by  pardon  will  be  a  heart  apt  to 
pardon,  and  the  miracle  of  forgiveness  which  has 
been  wrought  for  it  will  constitute  the  law  of  its  life 
as  well  as  the  ground  of  its  joyful  security. 

This  new  pattern  and  new  motive,  both  in  one, 
make  the  true  novelty  and  specific  difference  of 
Christian  morality.  "As  I  have  loved  you,"  makes 
the  commandment  "love  one  another"  a  new  com- 
mandment. And  all  that  is  difficult  in  obedience 
becomes  easier  by  the  power  of  that  motive.  Imita- 
tion of  one  whom  we  love  is  instinctive.  Obedience 
to  one  whom  we  love  is  delightful.  The  far  off 
ideal  becomes  near  and  real  in  the  person  of  our 
best  friend.  Bound  to  him  by  obligations  so 
immense,  and  a  forgiveness  so  costly  and  complete, 
we  shall  joyfully  yield  to  "  the  cords  of  love  "  which 
draw  us  after  Him.     We  have  each  to  choose  what 


Col.iii.  12-14.]    GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL.    3.15 

shall  be  the  pattern  for  us.  The  world  takes  Caesar, 
the  hero  ;  the  Christian  takes  Christ,  in  whose 
meekness  is  power,  and  whose  gentle  long-suffering 
has  been  victor  in  a  sterner  conflict  than  any  battle 
of  the  warrior  with  garments  rolled  in  blood. 

Paul  says,  "  Even  as  the  Lord  forgave  you,  so 
also  do  ye."  The  Lord's  prayer  teaches  us  to  ask, 
Forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  we  also  forgive.  In 
the  one  case  Christ's  forgiveness  is  the  example  and 
the  motive  for  ours.  In  the  other,  our  forgiveness 
is  the  condition  of  God's.  Both  are  true.  We  shall 
find  the  strongest  impulse  to  pardon  others  in  the 
consciousness  that  we  have  been  pardoned  by  Him. 
And  if  we  have  grudgings  against  our  offending 
brother  in  our  hearts,  we  shall  not  be  conscious  of 
the  tender  forgiveness  of  our  Father  in  heaven. 
That  is  no  arbitrary  limitation,  but  inherent  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case. 

II.  We  have  here  the  girdle  which  keeps  all  the 
garments  in  their  places. 

"  Above  all  these  things,  put  on  love,  which  is  the 
bond  of  perfectness." 

"  Above  all  these  '*  does  not  mean  "  besides,"  or 
"  more  important  than,"  but  is  clearly  used  in  its 
simplest  local  sense,  as  equivalent  to  "  over,"  and 
thus  carries  on  the  metaphor  of  the  dress.  Over 
the  other  garments  is  to  be  put  the  silken  sash  or 
girdle  of  love,  which  will  brace  and  confine  all  the 
rest  into  a  unity.  It  is  "  the  girdle  of  perfectness," 
by  which  is  not  meant,  as  is  often  supposed,  the 
perfect  principle  of  union  among  men.  Perfectness 
is  not  the  quality  of  the  girdle,  but  the  thing  which 
it  girds,  and  is  a  collective  expression  for  "  the 
various  graces  and  virtues,  which  together  make  up 


316  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

perfection."  So  the  metaphor  expresses  the  thought 
that  love  knits  into  a  harmonious  whole,  the  graces 
which  without  it  would  be  fragmentary  and  incom- 
plete. 

We  can  conceive  of  all  the  dispositions  already 
named  as  existing  in  some  fashion  without  love. 
There  might  be  pity  which  was  not  love,  though  we 
know  it  is  akin  to  it.  The  feeling  with  which  one 
looks  upon  some  poor  outcast,  or  on  some  stranger 
in  sorrow,  or  even  on  an  enemy  in  misery,  may  be 
very  genuine  compassion,  and  yet  clearly  separate 
from  love.  So  with  all  the  others.  There  may  be 
kindness  most  real  without  any  of  the  diviner 
emotion,  and  there  may  even  be  forbearance  reach- 
ing up  to  forgiveness,  and  yet  leaving  the  heart 
untouched  in  its  deepest  recesses.  But  if  these 
virtues  were  thus  exercised,  in  the  absence  of  love 
they  would  be  fragmentary,  shallow,  and  would  have 
no  guai  mtee  for  their  own  continuance.  Let  love 
come  into  the  heart  and  knit  a  man  to  the  poor 
creature  whom  he  had  only  pitied  before,  or  to  the 
enemy  whom  he  had  at  rhe  most  been  able  with  an 
effort  to  forgive,  and  it  lifts  these  other  emotions 
into  a  nobler  life.  He  who  pities  may  not  love, 
but  he  who  loves  cannot  but  pity  ;  and  that  com- 
passion will  flow  with  a  deeper  current  and  be  of  a 
purer  quality  than  the  shrunken  stream  which  does 
not  rise  from  that  higher  source. 

Nor  is  it  only  the  virtues  enumerated  here  for  which 
love  performs  this  office  ;  but  all  the  else  isolated 
graces  of  character,  it  binds  or  welds  into  a  har- 
monious whole.  As  the  broad  Eastern  girdle  holds 
the  flowing  robes  in  position,  and  gives  needed 
firmness  to  the  figure  as  well  as  composed  order  to 


Col.  iii.  12-14.]    GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL.    317 

the  attire  ;  so  this  broad  band,  woven  of  softest 
fabric,  keeps  all  emotions  in  their  due  place  and 
makes  the  attire  of  the  Christian  soul  beautiful  in 
harmonious  completeness. 

Perhaps  it  is  a  yet  deeper  truth  that  love  produces 
all  these  graces.  Whatsoever  things  men  call  virtues, 
are  best  cultivated  by  cultivating  it  So  with  a 
somewhat  similar  meaning  to  that  of  our  text,  but 
if  anything,  going  deeper  down,  Paul  in  another 
place  calls  love  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,  even  as  his 
Master  had  taught  him  that  all  the  complex  of 
duties  incumbent  upon  us  were  summed  up  in  love 
to  God,  and  love  to  men.  Whatever  I  owe  to  my 
brother  will  be  discharged  if  I  love  God,  and  live 
my  love.  Nothing  of  it,  not  even  the  smallest  mite 
of  the  debt  will  be  discharged,  however  vast  my 
sacrifices  and  services,  if  I  do  not. 

So  end  the  frequent  references  m  this  letter  to 
putting  off  the  old  and  putting  on  the  ne  v.  The 
sum  of  them  all  is,  that  we  must  first  put  \jn  Christ 
by  faith,  and  then  by  daily  effort  clothe  our  spirits 
in  the  graces  of  character  which  He  gives  us,  and  by 
which  we  shall  be  like  Him. 

We  have  said  that  this  dress  of  the  Christian  soul 
which  we  have  been  now  considering  does  not 
include  the  whole  of  Christian  duty.  We  may 
recall  the  other  application  of  the  same  figure  which 
occurs  in  the  parallel  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
where  Paul  sketches  for  us  in  a  few  rapid  touches 
the  armed  Christian  soldier.  The  two  pictures  may 
profitably  be  set  side  by  side.  Here  he  dresses  the 
Christian  soul  in  the  robes  of  peace,  bidding  him 
put  on  pity  and  meekness,  and  above  all,  the  silken 
girdle  of  love 


3i8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI ANS, 

**  In  peace,  there's  nothinfr  so  becomes  a  man 
As  modest  stillness  and  humility  ; 
But  when  the  blast  of  war  blows  in  our  ears, 

then  "put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God,"  the 
leathern  girdle  of  truth,  the  shining  breastplate  of 
righteousness,  and  above  all,  the  shield  of  faith — 
and  so  stand  a  flashing  pillar  of  steel.  Are  the  two 
pictures  inconsistent  ?  must  we  doff  the  robes  of 
peace  to  don  the  armour,  or  put  off  the  armour  to 
resume  the  robes  of  peace  ?  Not  so  ;  both  must 
be  worn  together,  for  neither  is  found  in  its  com- 
pleteness without  the  other.  Beneath  the  armour 
must  be  the  fine  linen,  clean  and  white — and  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  our  souls  may  be  clad  in  all  pity, 
mercifulness  and  love,  and  in  all  the  sparkling 
panoply  of  courage  and  strength  for  battle. 

But  both  the  armour  and  the  dress  of  peace  pre- 
suppose that  we  have  listened  to  Christ's  pleading 
counsel  to  buy  of  Him'  "  white  raiment  that  we  may 
be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  our  nakedness 
do  not  appear."  The  garment  for  the  soul,  which 
is  to  hide  its  deformities  and  to  replace  our  own 
filthy  rags,  is  woven  in  no  earthly  looms,  and  no 
efforts  of  ours  will  bring  us  into  possession  of  it. 
We  must  be  content  to  owe  it  wholly  to  Christ's 
gift,  or  else  we  shall  have  to  go  without  it  altogether. 
The  first  step  in  the  Christian  life  is  by  simple  faith 
to  receive  from  Him  the  forgiveness  of  all  our  sins, 
and  that  new  nature  which  He  alone  can  impart, 
and  which  we  can  neither  create  nor  win,  but  must 
simply  accept.  Then,  after  that,  come  the  field  and 
the  time  for  efforts  put  forth  in  His  strength,  to 
array  our  souls  in  His  likeness,  and  day  by  day  to 
put  on  the  beautiful  garments  which  He  bestows. 


Col.iii.  12-14.]    GARMENTS  OF  THE  RENEWED  SOUL.   319 

It  IS  a  lifelong  work  thus  to  strip  ourselves  of  the 
rags  of  our  old  vices,  and  to  gird  on  the  robe 
of  righteousness.  Lofty  encouragements,  tender 
motives,  solemn  warnings,  all  point  to  this  as  our 
continual  task.  We  should  set  ourselves  to  it  in 
His  strength,  if  so  be  that  being  clothed,  we  may 
not  be  found  naked — and  then,  when  we  lay  aside 
the  garment  of  flesh  and  the  armour  needed  for  the 
battle,  we  shall  hear  His  voice  welcoming  us  to  the 
land  of  peace,  and  shall  walk  with  Him  in  victor's 
robes,  glistening  "  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  could 
white  them." 


XXI. 

THE  PRACTICAL  EFFECTS  OF  THE  PEACE  OF 
CHRIST,  THE  WORD  OF  CHRIST,  AND  THE  NAME 
OF  CHRIST. 

'*  And  let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule  in  your  hearts,  to  the  which  also 
ye  were  called  in  one  body ;  and  be  ye  thankful.  Let  the  word  of 
Christ  dwell  in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom ;  teaching  and  admonishing 
one  another  with  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  with 
grace  in  your  hearts  unto  God.  And  whatsoever  ye  do  in  word  or  in 
deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  the 
Father  thiough  Him." — Col.  iii.  15-17  (Rev.  Vers.). 

THERE  are  here  three  precepts  somewhat  loosely 
connected,  of  which  the  first  belongs  properly  to 
the  series  considered  in  our  last  section,  from  which 
it  is  only  separated  as  not  sharing  in  the  metaphor 
under  which  the  virtues  contained  in  the  former 
verses  were  set  forth.  In  substance  it  is  closely 
connected  with  them,  though  in  form  it  is  different, 
and  in  sweep  is  more  comprehensive.  The  second 
refers  mainly  to  Christian  intercourse,  especially  to 
social  worship  ;  and  the  third  covers  the  whole  field 
of  conduct,  and  fitly  closes  the  series,  which  in  it 
reaches  the  utmost  possible  generality,  and  from  it 
drops  to  the  inculcation  of  very  special  domestic 
duties.  The  three  verses  have  each  a  dominant 
phrase  round  which  we  may  group  their  teaching. 
These  three  are,  the  peace  of  Christ,  the  word  of 
Christ,  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 


Col. iii.  15-17.]    EFFECTS  OF  THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST.     321 

I.  The  Ruling  Peace  of  Christ. 

The  various  reading  "  peace  of  Christ,"  for  "  peace 
of  God,"  is  not  only  recommended  by  manuscript 
authority,  but  has  the  advantage  of  bringing  the  ex- 
pression into  connection  with  the  great  words  of  the 
Lord,  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you.  My  peace  I  give 
unto  you."  A  strange  legacy  to  leave,  and  a 
strange  moment  at  which  to  speak  of  His  peace ! 
It  was  but  an  hour  or  so  since  He  had  been 
"  troubled  in  spirit,"  as  He  thought  of  the  betrayer 
— and  in  an  hour  more  He  would  be  beneath  the 
olives  of  Gethsemane ;  and  yet,  even  at  such  a  time, 
He  bestows  on  His  friends  some  share  in  His  own 
deep  repose  of  spirit.  Surely  "  the  peace  of  Christ  " 
must  mean  what  "  My  peace  "  meant ;  not  only  the 
peace  which  He  gives,  but  the  peace  which  lay,  like 
a  great  calm  on  the  sea,  on  His  own  deep  heart  ; 
and  surely  we  cannot  restrict  so  solemn  an  expres- 
sion to  the  meaning  of  mutual  concord  among 
brethren.  That,  no  doubt,  is  included  in  it,  but 
there  is  much  more  than  that.  Whatever  made  the 
strange  calm  which  leaves  such  unmistakable  traces 
in  the  picture  of  Christ  drawn  in  the  Gospels,  may 
be  ours.  When  He  gave  us  His  peace.  He  gave  ua 
some  share  in  that  meek  submission  of  will  to  His 
Father's  will,  and  in  that  stainless  purity,  which 
were  its  chief  elements.  The  hearts  and  lives  of 
men  are  made  troubled,  not  by  circum.stances,  but 
by  themselves.  Whoever  can  keep  his  own  will  in 
harmony  with  God's  enters  into  rest,  though  many 
trials  and  sorrows  may  be  his.  Even  if  within  and 
without  are  fightings,  there  may  be  a  central  "  peace 
subsisting  at  the  heart  of  endless  agitation."  We 
are  pur  own  disturbers.     The  eager  swift  motions  of 

21 


322  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLQSSIANS. 

our  own  wills  keep  us  restless.  Forsake  these,  and 
quiet  comes.  Christ's  peace  was  the  result  of  the 
perfect  harmony  of  all  His  nature.  All  was  co- 
operant  to  one  great  purpose  ;  desires  and  passions 
did  not  war  with  conscience  and  reason,  nor  did  the 
flesh  lust  against  the  Spirit.  Though  that  complete 
uniting  of  all  our  inner  selves  in  the  sweet  concord 
of  perfect  obedience  is  not  attained  on  earth,  yet  its 
beginnings  are  given  to  us  by  Christ,  and  in  Him 
we  may  be  at  peace  with  ourselves,  and  have  one 
great  ruling  power  binding  all  our  conflicting  desires 
in  one,  as  the  moon  draws  after  her  the  heaped 
waters  of  the  sea. 

We  are  summoned  to  improve  that  gift — to  "  let 
the  peace  of  Christ  "  have  its  way  in  our  hearts.  The 
surest  way  to  increase  our  possession  of  it  is  to 
decrease  our  separation  from  Him.  The  fulness  of 
our  possession  of  His  gift  of  peace  depends  altogether 
on  our  proximity  to  the  Giver.  It  evaporates  in 
carrying.  It  "  diminishes  as  the  square  of  the 
distance  "  from  the  source.  So  the  exhortation  to 
let  it  rule  in  us  will  be  best  fulfilled  by  keeping 
thought  and  affection  in  close  union  with  our  Lord. 

This  peace  is  to  "  rule  "  in  our  hearts.  The 
figure  contained  in  the  word  here  translated  rule  is 
that  of  the  umpire  or  arbitrator  at  the  games,  who, 
looking  down  on  the  arena,  watches  that  the  com- 
batants strive  lawfully,  and  adjudges  the  prize. 
Possibly  the  force  of  the  figure  may  have  been 
washed  out  of  the  word  by  use,  and  the  "  rule "  of 
bur  rendering  may  be  all  that  it  means.  But  there 
seems  no  reason  against  keeping  the  full  force  of  the 
expression,  which  adds  picturesqueness  and  point 
to  the  precept.     The  peace  of  Christ,  then,  is  to  sit 


Col. iii.  15-17.]    EFFECTS  OF  THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST.    323 

enthroned  as  umpire  in  the  heart ;  or,  if  we  might 
give  a  mediaeval  instead  of  a  classical  shape  to  the 
figure,  that  fair  sovereign,  Peace,  is  to  be  Queen  ot 
the  Tournament,  and  her  "  eyes  rain  influence  and 
adjudge  the  prize."  When  contending  impulses  and 
reasons  distract  and  seem  to  pull  us  in  opposite 
directions,  let  her  settle  which  is  to  prevail.  How 
can  the  peace  of  Christ  do  that  for  us  1  We  may 
make  a  rude  test  of  good  and  evil  by  their  effects  on 
our  inward  repose.  Whatever  mars  our  tranquillity, 
ruffling  the  surface  so  that  Christ's  image  is  no 
longer  visible,  is  to  be  avoided.  That  stillness  of 
spirit  is  very  sensitive  and  shrinks  away  at  the 
presence  of  an  evil  thing.  Let  it  be  for  us  what 
the  barometer  is  to  a  sailor,  and  if  it  sinks,  let  us  be 
sure  a  storm  is  at  hand.  If  we  find  that  a  given 
course  of  action  tends  to  break  our  peace,  we  may 
be  certain  that  there  is  poison  in  the  draught  which 
as  in  the  old  stories,  has  been  detected  by  the 
shivered  cup,  and  we  should  not  drink  any  more 
There  is  nothing  so  precious  that  it  is  worth  while  to 
lose  the  peace  of  Christ  for  the  sake  of  it.  When- 
ever we  find  it  in  peril,  we  must  retrace  our  steps. 

Then  follows  appended  a  reason  for  cultivating 
the  peace  of  Christ  "  to  which  also  ye  were  called 
in  one  body."  The  very  purpose  of  God's  merciful 
summons  and  invitation  to  them  in  the  gospel  was 
that  they  might  share  in  this  peace.  There  are 
many  ways  of  putting  God's  design  in  His  call  by 
the  gospel — it  may  be  represented  under  many 
angles  and  from  many  points  of  view,  and  is  glorious 
from  all  and  each.  No  one  word  can  state  all  the 
fulness  \o  which  we  are  called  by  His  wonderful 
love,  but  none  can  be  tenderer  and  more  blessed  than 


324  THE  EFISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

this  thought,  that  God's  great  voice  has  summoned 
us  to  a  share  in  Christ's  peace.  Being  so  called,  all 
who  share  in  it  of  course  find  themselves  knit  to 
each  other  by  possession  of  a  common  gift.  What 
a  contradiction  then,  to  be  summoned  in  order  to  so 
blessed  a  possession,  and  not  to  allow  it  sovereign 
sway  in  moulding  heart  and  life  !  What  a  contra- 
diction, further,  to  have  been  gathered  into  one  body 
by  the  common  possession  of  the  peace  of  Christ, 
and  yet  not  to  allow  it  to  bind  all  the  members  in 
its  sweet  fetters  with  cords  of  love  !  The  sway  of 
the  "  peace  of  Christ "  in  our  hearts  will  ensure  the 
perfect  exercise  of  all  the  other  graces  of  which  we 
have  been  hearing,  and  therefore  this  precept  fitly 
closes  the  series  of  exhortations  to  brotherly  affec- 
tions, and  seals  all  with  the  thought  of  the  "  one 
body  "  of  which  all  these  "  new  men  "  are  members. 
The  ver}'-  abruptness  of  the  introduction  of  the 
next  precept  gives  it  force,  "  and  be  ye  thankful,"  or, 
as  we  might  translate  with  an  accuracy  which  per- 
haps is  not  too  minute,  "  become  thankful,"  striving 
towards  deeper  gratitude  than  you  have  yet  attained. 
Paul  is  ever  apt  to  catch  fire  as  often  as  his  thought 
brings  him  in  sight  of  God's  great  love  in  drawing 
men  to  Himself,  and  in  giving  them  such  rich  gifts. 
It  is  quite  a  feature  of  his  style  to  break  into  sudden 
bursts  of  praise  as  often  as  his  path  leads  him  to 
a  summit  from  which  he  catches  a  glimpse  of  that 
great  miracle  of  love.  This  interjected  precept  is 
precisely  like  these  sudden  jets  of  praise.  It  is  as 
if  he  had  broken  off  for  a  moment  from  the  line 
of  his  thought,  and  had  said  to  his  hearers — Think 
of  that  wonderful  love  of  your  Father  God.  He  has 
called  you  from  the  midst  of  your  heathenism,  He 


Col. iii.  15-17]    EFFECTS  OF  THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST.    325 

has  called  you  from  a  world  of  tumult  and  a  life  of 
troubled  unrest  to  possess  the  peace  which  brooded 
ever,  like  the  mystic  dove,  over  Christ's  head  ;  He 
has  called  you  in  one  body,  having  knit  in  a  grand 
unity  us,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  so  widely  parted  before. 
Let  us  pause  and  lift  up  our  voices  in  praise  to  Him. 
True  thankfulness  will  well  up  at  all  moments,  and 
will  underlie  and  blend  with  all  duties.  There  are 
frequent  injunctions  to  thankfulness  in  this  letter, 
and  we  have  it  again  enjoined  in  the  closing  words 
of  the  verses  which  we  are  now  considering,  so  that 
we  may  defer  any  further  remarks  till  we  come  to 
deal  with  these. 

n.  The  Indwelling  Word  of  Christ. 

The  main  reference  of  this  verse  seems  to  be  to 
the  worship  of  the  Church — the  highest  expression 
of  its  oneness.  There  are  three  points  enforced  in 
its  three  clauses,  of  which  the  first  is  the  dwelling" 
in  the  hearts  of  the  Colossian  Christians  of  the 
"  word  of  Christ,"  by  which  is  meant,  as  I  conceive, 
not  simply  "  the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  heart,  as 
an  inward  monitor,"^  but  the  indwelling  of  the 
definite  body  of  truths  contained  in  the  gospel  which 
had  been  preached  to  them.  That  gospel  is  the 
word  of  Christ,  inasmuch  as  He  is  its  subject. 
These  early  Christians  received  that  body  of  truth 
by  oral  teaching.  To  us  it  comes  in  the  history  of 
Christ's  life  and  death,  and  in  the  exposition  of  the 
significance  and  far-reaching  depth  and  power  of 
these,  which  are  contained  in  the  rest  of  the  New 
Testament — a  very  definite  body  of  teaching.  How 
can   it  abide  in  the  heart }  or  what  is  the  dwelling 

»  Lightfoot. 


326  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

of  that  word  within  us  but  the  occupation  of  mind 
and  heart  and  will  with  the  truth  concerning  Jesus 
revealed  to  us  in  Scripture  ?  This  indwelling  is  in 
our  own  power,  for  it  is  matter  of  precept  and  not 
of  promise — and  if  we  want  to  have  it  we  must  do 
with  religious  truth  just  what  we  do  with  other  truths 
that  we  want  to  keep  in  our  minds — ponder  them, 
use  our  faculties  on  them,  be  perpetually  recurring 
to  them,  fix  them  in  our  memories,  like  nails  fastened 
in  a  sure  place,  and,  that  we  may  remember  them, 
**get  them  by  heart,"  as  the  children  say.  Few 
things  are  more  wanting  to-day  than  this.  The 
popular  Christianity  of  the  day  is  strong  in  philan- 
thropic service,  and  some  phases  of  it  are  full  of 
*  evangelistic "  activity,  but  it  is  wofully  lacking  in 
intelligent  grasp  of  the  great  principles  involved  and 
revealed  in  the  gospel.  Some  Christians  have  yielded 
to  the  popular  prejudice  against  "  dogma,"  and  have 
come  to  dislike  and  neglect  the  doctrinal  side  of 
religion,  and  others  are  so  busy  in  good  works  of 
various  kinds  that  they  have  no  time  nor  inclination 
to  reflect  nor  to  learn,  and  for  others  "  the  cares  of 
this  world  and  the  lusts  of  other  things,  entering  in, 
choke  the  word."  A  merely  intellectual  Christianity 
is  a  very  poor  thing,  no  doubt ;  but  that  has  been 
dinned  into  our  ears  so  long  and  loudly  for  a 
generation  now,  that  there  is  much  need  for  a  clear 
preaching  of  the  other  side — namely,  that  a  merely 
emotional  Christianity  is  a  still  poorer,  and  that  if 
feeling  on  the  one  hand  and  conduct  on  the  other 
are  to  be  worthy  of  men  with  heads  on  their 
shoulders  and  brains  in  their  heads,  both  feeling  and 
conduct  must  be  built  on  a  foundation  of  truth 
believed  and   pondered.     In  the  ordered  monarchy 


Col.  iii.  15-17.]    EFFECTS  OF  THE  IE  ACE  OF  CHRIST.    327 

of  human  nature,  reason  is  meant  to  govern,  but  she 
is  also  meant  to  submit,  and  for  her  the  law  holds 
good,  she  must  learn  to  obey  that  she  may  be  able 
to  rule.  She  must  bow  to  the  word  of  Christ,  and 
then  she  will  sway  aright  the  kingdom  of  the  soul. 
It  becomes  us  to  make  conscience  of  seeking  to  get 
a  firm  and  intelligent  grasp  of  Christian  truth  as 
a  whole,  and  not  to  be  always  living  on  milk  meant 
for  babes,  nor  to  expect  that  teachers  and  preachers 
should  only  repeat  for  ever  the  things  which  we 
know  already. 

That  word  is  to  dwell  in  Christian  men  richly. 
It  is  their  own  fault  if  they  possess  it,  as  so  many 
do,  in  scant  measure.  It  might  be  a  full  tide. 
Why  in  so  many  is  it  a  mere  trickle,  like  an 
Australian  river  in  the  heat,  a  line  of  shallow  ponds 
with  no  life  or  motion,  scarcely  connected  by  a 
thread  of  moisture,  and  surrounded  by  great  stretches 
of  blinding  shingle,  when  it  might  be  a  broad  water 
— "  waters  to  swim  in  "  }  Why,  but  because  they  do 
not  do  with  this  word,  what  all  students  do  with  the 
studies  which  they  love } 

The  word  should  manifest  the  rich  abundance  of 
its  dwelling  in  men  by  opening  out  in  their  minds 
into  "  every  kind  of  wisdom."  Where  the  gospel  in 
its  power  dwells  in  a  man's  spirit,  and  is  intelligently 
meditated  on  and  studied,  it  will  effloresce  into 
principles  of  thought  and  action  applicable  to  all 
subjects,  and  touching  the  whole  round  horizon  of 
human  life.  All,  and  more  than  all,  the  wisdom 
which  these  false  teachers  promised  in  their  mys- 
teries, is  given  to  the  babes  and  the  simple  ones 
who  treasure  the  word  of  Christ  in  their  hearts,  and 
the  least  among  them  may  say,  "I  have  more  under- 


328  THE  EPICTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIAATS. 

Standing  than  all  my  teachers,  for  Thy  testimonies 
are  my  meditation."  That  gospel  which  the  child 
may  receive,  has  "  infinite  riches  in  a  narrow  room," 
and,  like  some  tiny  black  seed,  for  all  its  humble 
form,  has  hidden  in  it  the  promise  and  potency  of 
wondrous  beauty  of  flower,  and  nourishment  of  fruit. 
Cultured  and  cared  for  in  the  heart  where  it  is  sown, 
it  will  unfold  into  all  truth  which  a  man  can  receive 
or  God  can  give,  concerning  God  and  man,  our 
nature,  duties,  hopes  and  destinies,  the  tasks  of  the 
moment,  and  the  glories  of  eternity.  He  who  has 
it  and  lets  it  dwell  richly  in  his  heart  is  wise  ;  he 
who  has  it  not,  "  at  his  latter  end  shall  be  a  fool." 

The  second  clause  of  this  verse  deals  with  the 
manifestations  of  the  indwelling  word  in  the  worship 
of  the  Church.  The  individual  possession  of  the 
word  in  one's  own  heart  does  not  make  us  inde- 
pendent of  brotherly  help.  Rather,  it  is  the  very 
foundation  of  the  duty  of  sharing  our  riches  with 
our  fellows,  and  of  increasing  ours  by  contributions 
from  their  stores.  And  so — "  teaching  and  ad- 
monishing one  another  "  is  the  outcome  of  it.  The 
universal  possession  of  Christ's  word  involves  the 
equally  universal  right  and  duty  of  mutual  in- 
struction. 

We  have  already  heard  the  Apostle  declaring  it 
to  be  his  work  to  "  admonish  every  man  and  to 
teach  every  man,"  and  found  that  the  former  office 
pointed  to  practical  ethical  instruction,  not  without 
rebuke  and  warning,  while  the  latter  referred  rather 
to  doctrinal  teaching.  What  he  there  claimed  for 
himself,  he  here  enjoins  on  the  whole  Christian 
community.  We  have  here  a  glimpse  of  the 
perfectly  simple,  informal  public  services  of  the  early 


Col. iii.  15-17.]    EFFECTS  OF  TflE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST.    329 

Church,  which  seem  to  have  partaken  much  more  of 
the  nature  of  a  free  conference  than  of  any  of  the 
forms  of  worship  at  present  in  use  in  any  Church. 
The  evidence  both  of  this  passage  and  of  the  other 
Pauline  Epistles,  especially  of  the  first  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  (xiv.)  unmistakably  shows  this.  The 
forms  of  worship  in  the  apostolic  Church  are  not 
meant  for  models,  and  we  do  not  prove  a  usage  as 
intended  to  be  permanent  because  we  prove  it  to  be 
primitive ;  but  the  principles  which  underlie  the 
usages  are  valid  always  and  everywhere,  and  one  of 
these  principles  is  the  universal  though  not  equal 
inspiration  of  Christian  men,  which  results  in  their 
universal  calling  to  teach  and  admonish.  In  what 
forms  that  principle  shall  be  expressed,  how  safe- 
guarded and  controlled,  is  of  secondary  importance. 
Different  stages  of  culture  and  a  hundred  other 
circumstances  will  modify  these,  and  nobody  but  a 
pedant  or  religious  martinet  will  care  about  uni- 
formity. But  I  cannot  but  believe  that  the  present 
practice  of  confining  the  public  teaching  of  the 
Church  to  an  official  class  has  done  harm.  Why 
should  one  man  be  for  ever  speaking,  and  hundreds 
of  people  who  are  able  to  teach,  sitting  dumb  to 
listen  or  pretend  to  listen  to  him  .'*  Surely  there  is 
a  wasteful  expenditure  there.  I  hate  forcible 
revolution,  and  do  not  believe  that  any  institutions, 
either  political  or  ecclesiastical,  which  need  violence 
to  sweep  them  away,  are  ready  to  be  removed  ;  but 
I  believe  that  if  the  level  \=>f  spiritual  life  were  raised 
among  us,  new  forms  would  naturally  be  evolved, 
in  which  there  should  be  a  more  adequate  recognition 
of  the  great  principle  on  which  the  democracy  of 
Christianity  is  founded,   namely,    "  I   will    pour    out 


330  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

My  Spirit  on  all  flesh — and  on  My  servants  and  on 
My  handmaidens  I  will  pour  out  in  these  days  of 
My  Spirit,  and  they  shall  prophesy."  There  are  not 
wanting  signs  that  many  different  classes  of  Christian 
worshippers  have  ceased  to  find  edification  in  the 
present  manner  of  teaching.  The  more  cultured 
write  books  on  "  the  decay  of  preaching  ; "  the  more 
earnest  take  to  mission  halls  and  a  "  freer  service," 
and  "  lay  preaching  "  ;  the  more  indifferent  stay  at 
home.  When  the  tide  rises,  all  the  idle  craft 
stranded  on  the  mud  are  set  in  motion  ;  such  a  time 
is  surely  coming  for  the  Church,  when  the  aspiration 
that  has  waited  millenniums  for  its  fulfilment,  and 
received  but  a  partial  accomplishment  at  Pentecost, 
shall  at  last  be  a  fact :  "  would  God  that  all  the> 
Lord's  people  were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord 
would  put  His  Spirit  upon  them  ! " 

The  teaching  and  admonishing  is  here  regarded  as 
being  effected  by  means  of  song.  That  strikes  one 
as  singular,  and  tempts  to  another  punctuation  of  the 
verse,  by  which  "  In  all  wisdom  teaching  and  admon- 
ishing one  another "  should  make  a  separate  clause, 
and  "  in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs " 
should  be  attached  to  the  following  words.  But 
probably  the  ordinary  arrangement  of  clauses  is  best 
on  the  whole.  The  distinction  between  "  psalms  " 
and  "  hymns "  appears  to  be  that  the  former  is  a 
song  with  a  musical  accompaniment,  and  that  the 
latter  is  vocal  praise  to  God.  No  doubt  the  "psalms" 
meant  were  chiefly  those  of  the  Psalter,  the  Old 
Testament  element  in  the  early  Christian  worship, 
while  the  "  hymns  "  were  the  new  product  of  the 
spirit  of  devotion  which  had  naturally  broken  into 
song,  the  first   beginnings  of  the   great   treasure   of 


Col.iii.  15-17.]    EFFECTS  OF  THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST.    331 

Christian  hymnody.  "  Spiritual  songs  "  is  a  more 
general  expression,  including  all  varieties  of  Christian 
poesy,  provided  that  they  come  from  the  Spirit 
moving  in  the  heart.  We  know  from  many  sources 
that  song  had  a  large  part  in  the  worship  of  the 
early  Church.  Indeed,  whenever  a  great  quickening 
of  religious  life  comes,  a  great  burst  of  Christian  song 
comes  with  it.  The  onward  march  of  the  Church 
has  ever  been  attended  by  music  of  praise ;  "  as  well 
the  singers  as  the  players  on  instruments  "  have  been 
there.  The  mediaeval  Latin  hymns  cluster  round 
the  early  pure  days  of  the  monastic  orders  ;  Luther's 
rough  stormy  hymns  were  as  powerful  as  his  treat- 
ises ;  the  mystic  tenderness  and  rapture  of  Charles 
Wesley's  have  become  the  possession  of  the  whole 
Church.  We  hear  from  outside  observers,  that  one 
of  the  practices  of  the  early  Christians  which  most 
attracted  heathen  notice  was,  that  they  assembled 
daily  before  it  was  light  and  "  sang  hymns  of  praise 
to  one  Christus  as  to  a  god." 

These  early  hymns  were  of  a  dogmatic  character. 
No  doubt,  just  as  in  many  a  missionary  Church  a 
hymn  is  found  to  be  the  best  vehicle  for  conveying 
the  truth,  so  it  was  in  these  early  Churches,  which 
were  made  up  largely  of  slaves  and  women — both 
uneducated.  "  Singing  the  gospel  "  is  a  very  old 
invention,  though  the  name  be'*  new.  The  picture 
which  we  get  here  of  the  meetings  of  the  early 
Christians  is  very  remarkable.  Evidently  their 
gatherings  were  free  and  social,  with  the  minimum 
of  form,  and  that  most  elastic.  If  a  man  had  any 
word  of  exhortation  for  the  people,  he  might  say  on. 
"  Every  one  of  you  hath  a  psalm,  a  doctrine."  If  a 
man  had  some  fragment  of  an  old  psalm,  or  some 


332  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

Strain  that  had  come  fresh  from  the  Christian  heart, 
he  might  sing  it,  and  his  brethren  would  listen.  We 
do  not  have  that  sort  of  psalmody  now.  But  what  a 
long  way  we  have  travelled  from  it  to  a  modern  con- 
gregation, standing  with  books  that  they  scarcely  look 
at,  and  "  worshipping  "  in  a  hymn  which  half  of  them 
do  not  open  their  mouths  to  sing  at  all,  and  the  other 
half  do  in  a  voice  inaudible  three  pews  off. 

The  best  praise,  however,  is  a  heart  song.  So  the 
Apostle  adds  "  singing  in  your  hearts  unto  God." 
And  it  is  to  be  in  *'grace,"  that  is  to  say,  in  it  as  the 
atmosphere  and  element  in  which  the  song  moves, 
which  is  nearly  equivalent  to  "  by  means  of  the 
Divine  grace  "  which  works  in  the  heart,  and  impels 
to  that  perpetual  music  of  silent  praise.  If  we  have 
the  peace  of  Christ  in  our  hearts,  and  the  word  of 
Christ  dwelling  in  us  richly  in  all  wisdom,  then  an 
unspoken  and  perpetual  music  will  dwell  there  too, 
"  a  noise  like  of  a  hidden  brook  "  singing  for  ever  its 
"  quiet  tune." 

III.  The  all-hallowing  Name  of  Jesus. 

From  worship  the  Apostle  passes  to  life,  and 
crowns  the  entire  series  of  injunctions  with  an  all- 
comprehensive  precept,  covering  the  whole  ground 
of  action.  "  Whatsoever  ye  do,  in  word  or  deed  " — 
then,  not  merely  worship,  specially  so  called,  but 
everything  is  to  come  under  the  influence  of  the  same 
motive.  That  expresses  emphatically  the  sanctity  of 
common  life,  and  extends  the  idea  of  worship  to  all 
deeds,  "Whatsoever  ye  do  in  word" — then  words 
are  doings,  and  in  many  respects  the  most  important 
of  our  doings.  Some  words,  though  they  fade  off 
the  ear  so  quickly,  outlast  all  contemporary  deeds,  and 
are   more  lasting  than  brass.      Not  only  "  the  word 


Col.iii.iS-i7.]    EFFECTS  OF  THE  PEACE  OF  CHRIST,    333 

of  the  Lord,"  but,  in  a  very  solemn  sense,  the  word 
of  man  "  endureth  for  ever." 

Do  all  "  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  That 
means  at  least  two  things — in  obedience  to  His 
authority,  and  in  dependence  on  His  help.  These 
two  are  the  twin  talismans  which  change  the  whole 
character  of  our  actions,  and  preserve  us,  in  doing 
them,  from  every  harm.  That  name  hallows  and 
ennobles  all  work.  Nothing  can  be  so  small  but 
this  will  make  it  great,  nor  so  monotonous  and  tame 
but  this  will  make  it  beautiful  and  fresh.  The 
name  now,  as  of  old,  casts  out  devils  and  stills 
storms.  "  For  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus"  is  the 
silken  padding  which  makes  our  yokes  easy.  It 
brings  the  sudden  strength  which  makes  our  burdens 
light.  We  may  write  it  ov^r  all  our  actions.  If 
there  be  any  on  which  we  dare  not  inscribe  it,  they 
are  not  for  us. 

Thus  done  in  the  name  of  Christ,  all  deeds  will 
become  thanksgiving,  and  so  reach  their  highest 
consecration  and  their  truest  blessedness.  "  Giving 
thanks  to  God  the  Father  through  Him  "  is  ever 
to  accompany  the  work  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  The 
exhortation  to  thanksgiving,  which  is  in  a  sense  the 
Alpha  and  the  Omega  of  the  Christian  life,  is  per- 
petually on  the  Apostle's  lips,  because  thankfulness 
should  be  in  perpetual  operation  in  our  hearts.  It 
is  so  important  because  it  presupposes  all-important 
things,  and  because  it  certainly  leads  to  every 
Christian  grace.  For  continual  thankfulness  there 
must  be  a  continual  direction  of  mind  towards  God 
and  towards  the  great  gifts  of  our  salvation  in  Jesus 
Christ.  There  must  be  a  continual  going  forth  of 
our  love  and  our  desire  to  these,  that  is  to  say — 


334  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

thankfulness  rests  on  the  reception  and  the  joyful 
appropriation  of  the  mercies  of  God,  brought  to  us 
by  our  Lord.  And  it  underlies  all  acceptable  ser- 
vice and  all  happy  obedience.  The  servant  who 
thinks  of  God  as  a  harsh  exactor  is  slothful  ;  the 
servant  who  thinks  of  Him  as  the  "  giving  God  "  re- 
joices in  toil.  He  who  brings  his  work  in  order  to 
be  paid  for  it,  will  get  no  wages,  and  turn  out  no 
work  worth  any.  He  who  brings  it  because  he  feels 
that  he  has  been  paid  plentiful  wages  beforehand,  of 
which  he  will  never  earn  the  least  mite,  will  present 
service  well  pleasing  to  the  Master. 

So  we  should  keep  thoughts  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
of  all  we  owe  to  Him,  ever  before  us  in  our  common 
work,  in  shop  and  mill  and  counting-house,  in  study 
and  street  and  home.  We  should  try  to  bring  all 
our  actions  more  under  their  influence,  and,  moved 
by  the  mercies  of  God,  should  yield  ourselves  living 
thank-offerings  to  Him,  who  is  the  sin-offering  for 
us.  If,  as  every  fresh  duty  arises,  we  hear  Christ 
saying,  "  This  do  in  remembrance  of  Me,"  all  life 
will  become  a  true  communion  with  Him,  and  every 
common  vessel  will  be  as  a  sacramental  chalice,  and 
the  bells  of  the  horses  will  bear  the  same  inscription 
as  the  high  priest's  mitre — "  Holiness  to  the  Lord." 
To  lay  work  on  that  altar  sanctifies  both  the  giver 
and  the  gift.  Presented  through  Him,  by  whom  all 
blessings  come  to  man  and  all  thanks  go  to  God, 
and  kindled  by  the  flame  of  gratitude,  our  poor 
deeds,  for  all  their  grossness  and  earthliness,  shall 
go  up  in  curling  wreaths  of  incense,  an  odour  of 
a  sweet  smell  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ, 


XXII. 

THE    CHRISTIAN  FAMILY, 

"Wives,  be  in  subjection  to  your  husbands,  as  is  fitting  in  the  Lord. 
Husbands,  love  your  wives,  and  be  not  bitter  against  them. 

"  Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things,  for  this  is  well-pleasing 
in  the  Lord.  Fathers,  provoke  not  your  children,  that  they  be  not 
discouraged. 

*'  Servants,  obey  in  all  things  them  that  are  your  masters  according  to 
the  flesh  ;  not  with  eyeservice,  as  men-pleasers ;  but  in  singleness  of 
heart,  fearing  the  Lord :  whatsoever  ye  do,  work  heartily,  as  unto  the 
Lord,  and  not  unto  men ;  knowing  that  from  the  Lord  ye  shall  receive  the 
recompense  of  the  inheritance  :  ye  serve  the  (Lord  Christ.  For  he  that 
doeth  wrong  shall  receive  again  for  the  wrong  that  he  hath  done  :  and 
there  is  no  respect  of  persons. 

"Masters,  render  unto  your  servants  that  which  is  just  and  equal; 
knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Master  in  Heaven." — COL.  iii.  l8-iv.  I 
(Rev.  Ver.). 

^ 

THIS  section  deals  with  the  Christian  family,  as 
made  up  of  husband  and  wife,  children,  and 
servants.  In  the  family,  Christianity  has  most 
signally  displayed  its  power  of  refining,  ennobling, 
and  sanctifying  earthly  relationships.  Indeed,  one 
may  say  that  domestic  life,  as  seen  in  thousands  of 
Christian  homes,  is  purely  a  Christian  creation,  and 
would  have  been  a  new  revelation  to  the  heathenism 
of  Colossae,  as  it  is  to-day  in  many  a  mission  field. 

We  do  not  know  what  may  have  led  Paul  to  dwell 
with  special  emphasis  on  the  domestic  duties,  in  this 
letter,  and   in  the  contemporaneous  Epistle  of  the 


336  THE  LPISTLE   TO   1  HE   COLOSSIANS. 

Ephesians.  He  does  so,  and  the  parallel  section 
there  should  be  carefully  compared  throughout  with 
this  paragraph.  The  former  is  considerably  more 
expanded,  and  may  have  been  written  after  the 
verses  before  us ;  but,  however  that  may  be,  the 
verbal  coincidences  and  variations  in  the  two 
sections  are  very  interesting  as  illustrations  of  the 
way  in  which  a  mind  fully  charged  with  a  theme 
will  freely  repeat  itself,  and  use  the  same  words  in 
different  combinations  and  with  infinite  shades  of 
modification. 

The  precepts  given  are  extremely  simple  and 
obvious.  Domestic  happiness  and  family  Christianity 
are  made  up  of  very  homely  elements.  One  duty  is 
prescribed  for  the  one  member  of  each  of  the  three 
family  groups,  and  varying  forms  of  another  for  the 
other.  The  wife,  the  child,  the  servant  are  bid  to 
obey  ;  the  husband  to  love,  the  father  to  show  his 
love  in  gentle  considerateness  ;  the  master  to  yield 
his  servants  their  dues.  Like  some  perfume  distilled 
from  common  flowers  that  grow  on  every  bank,  the 
domestic  piety  which  makes  home  a  house  of  God, 
and  a  gate  of  heaven,  is  prepared  from  these  two 
simples — obedience  and  love.      These  are  all. 

We  have  here  then  the  ideal  Christian  household 
in  the  three  ordinary  relationships  which  make  up 
the  family  ;  wife  and  husband,  children  and  father, 
servant  and  master. 

I.  The  Reciprocal  Duties  of  wife  and  husband — 
subjection  and  love. 

The  duty  of  the  wife  is  "  subjection,"  and  it  is 
enforced  on  the  ground  that  it  is  "  fitting  in  the 
Lord  " — that  is,  "  it  is,"  or  perhaps  "  it  became  "  at 
the  time  of  conversion,  **  the  conduct  corresponding 


Col.iii.  i8— iv.i.]  THE   CHRISTIAN  FAMILY,  337 

to  or  befitting  the  condition  of  being  in  the  Lord." 
In  more  modern  language — the  Christian  ideal  of 
the  wife's  duty  has  for  its  very  centre — subjection. 

Some  of  us  will  smile  at  that  ;  some  of  us  will 
think  it  an  old-fashioned  notion,  a  survival  of  a  more 
barbarous  theory  of  marriage  than  this  century 
recognises.  But,  before  we  decide  upon  the  correct- 
ness of  the  apostolic  precept,  let  us  make  quite  sure 
of  its  meaning.  Now,  if  we  turn  to  the  corresponding 
passage  in  Ephesians,  we  find  that  marriage  is 
regarded  from  a  high  and  sacred  point  of  view,  as 
being  an  earthly  shadow  and  faint  adumbration  of 
the  union  between  Christ  and  the  Church. 

To  Paul,  all  human  and  earthly  relationships  were 
moulded  after  the  patterns  of  things  in  the  heavens, 
and  the  whole  fleeting  visible  life  of  man  was  a 
parable  of  the  "  things  which  are  "  in  the  spiritual 
realm.  Most  chiefly,  the  holy  and  mysterious  union 
of  man  and  woman  in  marriage  is  fashioned  in  the 
likeness  of  the  only  union  v/hich  is  closer  and  more 
mysterious  than  itself,  namely  that  between  Christ 
and  His  Church. 

Such  then  as  are  the  nature  and  the  spring  of 
the  Church's  "  subjection  ":  to  Christ,  such  will  be  the 
nature  and  the  spring  of  the  wife's  "  subjection  "  to 
the  husband.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  a  subjection  of 
which  love  is  the  very  soul  and  animating  principle. 
In  a  true  marriage,  as  in  the  loving  obedience  of  a 
believing  soul  to  Christ,  the  wife  submits  not  because 
she  has  found  a  master,  but  because  her  heart  has 
found  its  rest.  Everything  harsh  or  degrading  melts 
away  from  the  requirement  when  thus  looked  at. 
It  is  a  joy  to  serve  where  the  heart  is  engaged,  and 
that  is  eminently  true  of  the  feminine  nature.     For 

22 


333  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLO  SSI ANS. 

its  full  satisfaction,  a  woman's  heart  needs  to  look 
up  where  it  loves.  She  has  certainly  the  fullest 
wedded  life  who  can  "  reverence  "  her  husband.  For 
its  full  satisfaction,  a  woman's  heart  needs  to  serve 
where  it  loves.  That  is  the  same  as  saying  that  a 
woman's  love  is,  in  the  general,  nobler,  purer,  more 
unselfish  than  a  man's,  and  therein,  quite  as  much 
as  in  physical  constitution,  is  laid  the  foundation  of 
that  Divine  ideal  of  marriage,  which  places  the  wife's 
delight  and  dignity  in  sweet  loving  subjection. 

Of  course  the  subjection  has  its  limitations.  "  We 
must  obey  God  rather  than  man  "  bounds  the  field 
of  all  human  authority  and  control.  Then  there  are 
cases  in  which,  on  the  principle  of  "  the  tools  to  the 
hands  that  can  use  them,"  the  rule  falls  naturally  to 
the  wife  as  the  stronger  character.  Popular  sarcasm, 
however,  shows  that  such  instances  are  felt  to  be 
contrary  to  the  true  ideal,  and  such  a  wife  lacks 
something  of  repose  for  her  heart. 

No  doubt,  too,  since  Paul  wrote,  and  very  largely 
by  Christian  influences,  women  have  been  educated 
and  elevated,  so  as  to  make  mere  subjection  im- 
possible now,  if  ever  it  were  so.  Woman's  quick 
instinct  as  to  persons,  her  finer  wisdom,  her  purer 
discernment  as  to  moral  questions,  make  it  in  a 
thousand  cases  the  wisest  thing  a  man  can  do  to 
listen  to  the  "  subtle  flow  of  silver-paced  counsel " 
which  his  wife  gives  him.  All  such  considerations 
are  fully  consistent  with  this  apostolic  teaching,  and 
it  remains  true  that  the  wife  who  does  not  reverence 
and  lovingly  obey  is  to  be  pitied  if  she  cannot,  and 
to  be  condemned  if  she  will  not. 

And  what  of  the  husband's  duty  ?  He  is  to  love, 
and  because  he  loves,  not  to  be  harsh  or  bitter,  in 


Col.iii.  i8— iv.i.]  THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY,  339 

word,  look  or  act.  The  parallel  in  Ephesians  adds 
the  solemn  elevating  thought,  that  a  man's  love  to 
the  woman,  whom  he  has  made  his  own,  is  to  be 
like  Christ's  to  the  Church.  Patient  and  generous, 
utterly  self-forgetting  and  self-sacrificing,  demanding 
nothing,  grudging  nothing,  giving  all,  not  shrinking 
from  the  extreme  of  suffering  and  pain  and  death 
itself — that  he  may  bless  and  help — such  was  the 
Lord's  love  to  His  bride,  such  is  to  be  a  Christian 
husband's  love  to  his  wife.  That  solemn  example, 
which  lifts  the  whole  emotion  high  above  mere 
passion  or  selfish  affection,  carries  a  great  lesson  too 
as  to  the  connection  between  man's  love  and  woman's 
"  subjection."  The  former  is  to  evoke  the  latter, 
just  as  in  the  heavenly  pattern,  Christ's  love  melts 
and  moves  human  wills  to  glad  obedience,  which 
is  liberty.  We  do  not  say  that  a  wife  is  utterly 
absolved  from  obedience  where  a  husband  fails  in 
self-forgetting  love,  though  certainly  it  does  not  lie 
in  his  mouth  to  accuse,  whose  fault  is  graver  than 
and  the  origin  of  hers.  But,  without  going  so  far 
as  that,  we  may  recognise  the  true  order  to  be  that 
the  husband's  love,  self-sacrificing  and  all-bestowing, 
is  meant  to  evoke  the  wife's  love,  delighting  in 
service,  and  proud  to  crown  him  her  king. 

Where  there  is  such  love,  there  will  be  no  question 
of  mere  command  and  obedience,  no  tenacious  ad- 
herence to  rights,  or  jealous  defence  of  independence. 
Law  will  be  transformed  into  choice.  To  obey  will 
be  joy  ;  to  serve,  the  natural  expression  of  the  heart. 
Love  uttering  a  wish  speaks  music  to  love  listening  ; 
and  love  obeying  the  wish  is  free  and  a  queen. 
Such  sacred  beauty  may  light  up  wedded  life,  if  it 
catches  a  gleam  from  the  fountain  of  all  light,  and 


340  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 

shines  by  reflection  from  the  love  that  binds  Christ 
to  His  Church  as  the  links  of  the  golden  beams  bind 
the  sun  to  the  planet.  Husbands  and  wives  are  to 
see  to  it  that  this  supreme  consecration  purifies  and 
raises  their  love.  Young  men  and  maidens  are  to 
remember  that  the  nobleness  and  heart-repose  of  their 
whole  life  may  be  made  or  marred  by  marriage,  and 
to  take  heed  where  they  fix  their  affections.  If 
there  be  not  unity  in  the  deepest  thing  of  all,  love 
to  Christ,  the  sacredness  and  completeness  will  fade 
away  from  any  love.  But  if  a  man  and  woman  love 
and  marry  "in  the  Lord,"  He  will  be  "in  the  midst," 
walking  between  them,  a  third  who  will  make  them 
one,  and  that  threefold  cord  will  not  be  quickly 
broken. 

n.  The  Reciprocal  Duties  of  children  and  parents 
— obedience  and  gentle  loving  authority. 

The  injunction  to  children  is  laconic,  decisive, 
universal.  "  Obey  your  parents  in  all  things."  Of 
course,  there  is  one  limitation  to  that.  If  God's 
command  looks  one  way,  and  a  parent's  the  opposite, 
disobedience  is  duty — but  such  extreme  case  is 
probably  the  only  one  which  Christian  ethics  admit 
as  an  exception  to  the  rule.  The  Spartan  brevity 
of  the  command  is  enforced  by  one  consideration, 
"for  this  is  wSll-pleasing  z;/  the  Lord,"  as  the  Revised 
Version  rightly  reads,  instead  of  "  to  the  Lord,"  as 
in  the  Authorised,  thus  making  an  exact  parallel 
to  the  former  "  fitting  in  the  Lord."  Not  only  to 
Christ,  but  to  all  who  can  appreciate  the  beauty  of 
goodness,  is  filial  obedience  beautiful.  The  parallel 
in  Ephesians  substitutes  "  for  this  is  right,"  appealing 
to  the  natural  conscience.  Right  and  fair  in  itself, 
it  is  accordant  with  the  law  stamped  on  the  very 


Col.iii.  i8-iv.  I.]  7W^   CHRISTIAN^  FAMILY.  341 

relationship,  and  it  is  witnessed  as  such  by  the 
instinctive  approbation   which   it  evokes. 

No  doubt,  the  moral  sentiment  of  Paul's  age 
stretched  parental  authority  to  an  extreme,  and  we 
need  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  the  Christian  idea  of 
a  father's  power  and  a  child's  obedience  has  been 
much  softened  by  Christianity  ;  but  the  softening  has 
come  from  the  greater  prominence  given  to  love, 
rather  than  from  the  limitation  given  to  obedience. 

Our  present  domestic  life  seems  to  me  to  stand 
sorely  in  need  of  Paul's  injunction.  One  cannot  but 
see  that  there  is  great  laxity  in  this  matter  in  many 
Christian  households,  in  reaction  perhaps  from  the 
too  great  severity  of  past  times.  Many  causes  lead 
to  this  unwholesome  relaxation  of  parental  authority. 
In  our  great  cities,  especially  among  the  commercial 
classes,  children  are  generally  better  educated  than 
their  fathers  and  mothers,  they  know  less  of  early 
struggles,  and  one  often  sees  a  sense  of  inferiority 
making  a  parent  hesitate  to  command,  as  well  as  a 
misplaced  tenderness  making  him  hesitate  to  forbid. 
A  very  misplaced  and  cruel  tenderness  it  is  to  say 
"  would  you  like  .?  "  when  he  ought  to  say  "  I  wish.'* 
It  is  unkind  to  lay  on  young  shoulders  "  the  weight 
of  too  much  liberty,"  and  to  introduce  young  hearts 
too  soon  to  the  sad  responsibility  of  choosing  between 
good  and  evil.  It  were  better  and  more  loving  by 
far  to  put  off  that  day,  and  to  let  the  children  feel 
that  in  the  safe  nest  of  home,  tlieir  feeble  and 
ignorant  goodness  is  sheltered  behind  a  strong  barrier 
of  command,  and  their  lives  simplified  by  having  the 
one  duty  of  obedience.  By  many  parents  the  advice 
is  needed — consult  your  children  less,  command  them 
more. 


342  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

And  as  for  children,  here  is  the  one  thing  which 
God  would  have  them  do  :  "  Obey  your  parents  in 
all  things."  As  fathers  used  to  say  when  I  was  a 
boy — "  not  only  obedience,  but  prompt  obedience." 
It  is  right.  That  should  be  enough.  But  children 
may  also  remember  that  it  is  "  pleasing  " — fair  and 
good  to  see,  making  them  agreeable  in  the  eyes  of 
all  whose  approbation  is  worth  having,  and  pleasing 
to  themselves,  saving  them  from  many  a  bitter 
thought  in  after  days,  when  the  grave  has  closed 
over  father  and  mother.  One  remembers  the  story 
of  how  Dr.  Johnson,  when  a  man,  stood  in  the 
market  place  at  Lichfield,  bareheaded,  with  the  rain 
pouring  on  him,  in  remorseful  remembrance  of 
boyish  disobedience  to  his  dead  father.  There  is 
nothing  bitterer  than  the  too  late  tears  for  wrongs 
done  to  those  who  are  gone  beyond  the  reach  of 
our  penitence.  "  Children  obey  your  parents  in  all 
things,"  that  you  may  be  spared  the  sting  of  con- 
science for  childish  faults,  which  may  be  set 
tingling  and  smarting  again  even  in  old  age. 

The  law  for  parents  is  addressed  to  "  fathers," 
partly  because  a  mother's  tenderness  has  less  need 
of  the  warning  *'  provoke  not  your  children,"  than  a 
father's  more  rigorous  rule  usually  has,  and  partly 
because  the  father  is  regarded  as  the  head  of  the 
household.  The  advice  is  full  of  practical  sagacity, 
How  do  parents  provoke  their  children  t  By  un- 
reasonable commands,  by  perpetual  restrictions,  by 
capricious  jerks  at  the  bridle,  alternating  with  as 
capricious  dropping  of  the  reins  altogether,  by  not 
governing  their  own  tempers,  by  shrill  or  stern  tones 
where  quiet,  soft  ones  would  do,  by  frequent  checks 
and  rebukes,  and  sparing  praise.     And  what  is  sure 


Col.iii.  i8— iv.  I.]  THE   CHRISTIAN  FAMILY,  343 


to  follow  such  mistreatment  by  father  or  mother  ? 
First,  as  the  parallel  passage  in  Ephesians  has  it, 
"  wrath  " — bursts  of  temper,  for  which  probably  the 
child  is  punished  and  the  parent  is  guilty — and  then 
spiritless  listlessness  and  apathy.  "  I  cannot  please 
him  whatever  I  do,"  leads  to  a  rankling  sense  of 
injustice,  and  then. to  recklessness — "it  is  useless  to 
try  any  more."  And  when  a  child  or  a  man  loses 
heart,  there  will  be  no  more  obedience.  Paul's 
theory  of  the  training  of  children  is  closely  connected 
with  his  central  doctrine,  that  love  is  the  life  of 
service,  and  faith  the  parent  of  righteousness.  To 
him  hope  and  gladness  and  confident  love  underlie 
all  obedience.  When  a  child  loves  and  trusts,  he 
will  obey.  When  he  fears  and  has  to  think  of  his 
father  as  capricious,  exacting  or  stern,  he  will  do 
like  the  man  in  the  parable,  who  was  afraid  because 
he  thought  of  his  master  as  austere,  reaping  where 
he  did  not  sow,  and  therefore  went  and  hid  his 
talent.  Children's  obedience  must  be  fed  on  love 
and  praise.  Fear  paralyses  activity,  and  kills 
service,  whether  it  cowers  in  the  heart  of  a  boy  to 
his  father,  or  of  a  man  to  his  Father  in  heaven. 

So  parents  are  to  let  the  sunshine  of  their  smile 
ripen  their  children's  love  to  fruit  of  obedience,  and 
remember  that  frost  in  spring  scatters  the  blossoms 
on  the  grass.  Many  a  parent,  especially  many  a 
father,  drives  his  child  into  evil  by  keeping  him  at  a 
distance.  He  should  make  his  boy  a  companion 
and  playmate,  teach  him  to  think  of  his  father  as 
his  confidant,  try  to  keep  his  child  nearer  to  himself 
than  to  anybody  beside,  and  then  his  authority  will 
be  absolute,  his  opinions  an  oracle,  and  his  lightest 
wish  a  law.      Is    not  the    kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ 


344  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS, 

based  on  His  becoming  a  brother  and  one  of  our- 
selves, and  is  it  not  wielded  in  gentleness  and  en- 
forced by  love  ?  Is  it  not  the  most  absolute  of 
rules  ?  and  should  not  the  parental  authority  be  like 
it — having  a  reed  for  a  sceptre,  lowliness  and  gentle- 
ness being  stronger  to  rule  and  to  sway  than  the 
"  rods  of  iron  "  or  of  gold  which  earthly  monarchs 
wield  ? 

There  is  added  to  this  precept,  in  Ephesians,  an 
injunction  on  the  positive  side  of  parental  duty : 
"  Bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of 
the  Lord."  I  fear  that  is  a  duty  fallen  wofully  into 
disuse  in  many  Christian  households.  Many  parents 
think  it  wise  to  send  their  children  away  from  home 
for  their  education,  and  so  hand  over  their  moral 
and  religious  training  to  teachers.  That  may  be 
right,  but  it  makes  the  fulfilment  of  this  precept  all 
but  impossible.  Others,  who  have  their  children 
beside  them,  are  too  busy  all  the  week,  and  too  fond 
of  "  rest  "  on  Sunday.  Many  send  their  children  to 
a  Sunday  school  chiefly  that  they  themselves  may 
have  a  quiet  house  and  a  sound  sleep  in  the  after- 
noon. Every  Christian  minister,  if  he  keeps  his 
eyes  open,  must  see  that  there  is  no  religious  in- 
struction worth  calling  by  the  name  in  a  very  large 
number  of  professedly  Christian  households  ;  and  he 
is  bound  to  press  very  earnestly  on  his  hearers  the 
question,  whether  the  Christian  fathers  and  mothers 
among  them  do  their  duty  in  this  matter.  Many  of 
them,  I  fear,  have  never  opened  their  lips  to  their 
children  on  religious  subjects.  Is  it  not  a  grief  and 
a  shame  that  men  and  women  with  some  religion  in 
them,  and  loving  their  little  ones  dearly,  should  be 
tongue-tied  before  them  on  the  most  important  of  all 


Col.  iii.  1 8— iv.  I .  ]  THE   CHRIS  TIAN  FA  MIL  Y.  345 

things?  What  can  come  of  it  but  what  does  come  of 
it  so  often  that  it  saddens  one  to  see  how  frequently 
it  occurs — that  the  children  drift  away  from  a  faith 
which  their  parents  did  not  care  enough  about  to 
teach  it  to  them  ?  A  silent  father  makes  prodigal 
sons,  and  many  a  grey  head  has  been  brought  down 
with  sorrow  to  the  grave,  and  many  a  mother's  heart 
broken,  because  he  and  she  neglected  their  plain 
duty,  which  can  be  handed  over  to  no  schools  or 
masters — the  duty  of  religious  instruction.  "  These 
words  which  I  command  thee,  shall  be  in  thine 
heart ;  and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  to  thy 
children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest 
in  thine  house." 

III.  The  Reciprocal  Duties  of  servants  and  masters 
— obedience  and  justice. 

The  first  thing  to  observe  here  is,  that  these 
"  servants  "  are  slaves,  not  persons  who  have  volun- 
tarily given  their  work  for  wages.  The  relation  of 
Christianity  to  slavery  is  too  wide  a  subject  to  be 
touched  here.  It  must  be  enough  to  point  out  that 
Paul  recognises  that  "  sum  of  all  villanies,"  gives  in- 
structions to  both  parties  in  it,  never  says  one  word 
in  condemnation  of  it.  More  remarkable  still ;  the 
messenger  who  carried  this  letter  to  Colossae  carried 
in  the  same  bag  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  and  was 
accompanied  by  the  fugitive  slave  Onesimus,  on 
whose  neck  Paul  bound  again  the  chain,  so  to 
speak,  with  his  own  hands.  And  yet  the  gospel 
which  Paul  preached  has  in  it  principles  which  cut 
up  slavery  by  the  roots  ;  as  <k^  read  in  this  very 
letter,  "  In  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  bond  nor 
free."  Why  then  did  not  Christ  and  His  apostles 
make  war  against  slavery  ?     For  the  samcj  rt^ason  for 


346  THE  EFISTLE   TO   THE  CO  LOSS  TANS. 

-uhlch  they  did  not  make  war  against  any  political 
or  social  institutions.  "  First  make  the  tree  good 
and  his  fruit  good."  The  only  way  to  reform 
institutions  is  to  elevate  and  quicken  the  general 
conscience,  and  then  the  evil  will  be  outgrown,  left 
behind,  or  thrown  aside.  Mould  men  and  the  men 
will  mould  institutions.  So  Christianity  did  not 
set  itself  to  fell  this  upas  tree,  which  would  have 
been  a  long  and  dangerous  task  ;  but  girdled  it,  as 
we  may  say,  stripped  the  bark  off  it,  and  left  it  to 
die — and  it  has  died  in  all  Christian  lands  now. 

But  the  principles  laid  down  here  are  quite  as 
applicable  to  our  form  of  domestic  and  other  service 
as  to  the  slaves  and  masters  of  Colossae. 

Note  then  the  extent  of  the  servant's  obedience — 
*'  in  all  things."  Here,  of  course,  as  in  former  cases, 
is  there  presupposed  the  limit  of  supreme  obedience 
to  God's  commands  ;  that  being  safe,  all  else  is  to 
gvve.  way  to  the  duty  of  submission.  It  is  a  stern 
command,  that  seems  all  on  the  side  of  the  masters. 
It  might  strike  a  chill  into  many  a  slave,  who  had 
been  drawn  to  the  gospel  by  the  hope  of  finding 
some  little  lightening  of  the  yoke  that  pressed  so 
heavily  on  his  poor  galled  neck,  and  of  hearing  some 
voice  speaking  in  tenderer  tones  than  those  of  harsh 
command.  Still  more  emphatically,  and,  as  it  might 
seem,  still  more  harshly,  the  Apostle  goes  on  to 
insist  on  the  inward  completeness  of  the  obedience — 
"  not  with  eyeservice  (a  word  of  Paul's  own  coining) 
as  men-pleasers."  We  have  a  proverb  about  the 
worth  of  the  master's  eye,  which  bears  witness  that 
the  same  fault  still  clings  to  hired  service.  One  has 
only  to  look  at  the  next  set  of  bricklayers  one  sees 
on  a  scaffold,  or  of  haymakers  one  comes  across  in 


Col.  iii.  i8— iv.  i.]  THE   CHRISTIAN  FAMILY.  347 

a  field,  to  see  it  The  vice  was  venial  in  slaves  ; 
it  is  inexcusable,  because  it  darkens  into  theft,  in 
paid  servants — and  it  spreads  far  and  wide.  All 
scamped  work,  all  productions  of  man's  hand  or 
brain  which  are  got  up  to  look  better  than  they  are, 
all  fussy  parade  of  diligence  when  under  inspection 
and  slackness  afterwards — and  all  their  like  which 
infect  and  infest  every  trade  and  profession,  are 
transfixed  by  the  sharp  point  of  this  precept. 

"  But  in  singleness  of  heart,"  that  is,  with  un- 
divided motive,  which  is  the  antithesis  and  the 
cure  for  "  eyeservice  " — and  "  fearing  God,"  which 
is  opposed  to  "  pleasing  men."  Then  follows  the 
positive  injunction,  covering  the  whole  ground  of 
action  and  lifting  the  constrained  obedience  to  the 
earthly  master  up  into  the  sacred  and  serene  lofti- 
ness of  religious  duty,  "  whatsoever  ye  do,  work 
heartily,"  or  from  the  soul.  The  word  for  work  is 
stronger  than  that  for  do^  and  implies  effort  and  toil. 
They  are  to  put  all  their  power  into  their  work,  and 
not  be  afraid  of  hard  toil.  And  they  are  not  only 
to  bend  their  backs  but  their  wills,  and  to  labour 
"  from  the  soul,"  that  is,  cheerfully  and  with  interest 
— a  hard  lesson  for  a  slave  and  asking  more  than 
could  be  expected  from  human  nature,  as  many  of 
them  would,  no  doubt,  think.  Paul  goes  on  to 
transfigure  the  squalor  and  misery  of  the  slave's  lot 
by  a  sudden  beam  of  light — "  as  to  the  Lord  " — 
your  true  "  Master,"  for  it  is  the  same  word  as  in 
the  previous  verse — "  and  not  unto  men."  Do  not 
think  of  your  tasks  as  only  enjoined  by  harsh, 
capricious,  selfish  men,  but  lift  your  thoughts  to 
Christ,  who  is  your  Lord,  and  glorify  all  these  sordid 
duties  by  seeing  His  will  in  them       He  only  who 


348  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

works  as  "  to  the  Lord,"  will  work  "  heartily."  The 
thought  of  Christ's  command,  and  of  my  poor  toil 
as  done  for  His  sake,  will  change  constraint  into 
cheerfulness,  and  make  unwelcome  tasks  pleasant, 
and  monotonous  ones  fresh,  and  trivial  ones  great. 
It  will  evoke  new  powers,  and  renewed  consecration. 
In  that  atmosphere,  the  dim  flame  of  servile  obedi- 
ence will  burn  more  brightly,  as  a  lamp  plunged 
into  a  jar  of  pure  oxygen. 

The  stimulus  of  a  great  hope  for  the  ill-used,  un- 
paid slave,  is  added.  Whatever  their  earthly  masters 
might  fail  to  give  them,  the  true  Master  whom  they 
really  served  would  accept  no  work  for  which  He 
did  not  return  more  than  sufficient  w^ages.  "  From 
the  Lord  ye  shall  receive  the  recompense  of  the 
inheritance."  Blows  and  scanty  food  and  poor 
lodging  may  be  all  that  they  get  from  their  owners 
for  all  their  sweat  and  toil,  but  if  they  are  Christ's 
slaves,  they  will  be  treated  no  more  as  slaves,  but 
as  sons,  and  receive  a  son's  portion,  the  exact  re- 
compense which  consists  of  the  "  inheritance."  The 
juxtaposition  of  the  two  ideas  of  the  slave  and  the 
inheritance  evidently  hints  at  the  unspoken  thought, 
that  they  are  heirs  because  they  are  sons — a  thought 
which  might  well  lift  up  bowed  backs  and  brighten 
dull  faces.  The  hope  of  that  reward  came  like  an 
angel  into  the  smoky  huts  and  hopeless  lives  of 
these  poor  slaves.  It  shone  athwart  all  the  gloom 
and  squalor,  and  taught  patience  beneath  "  the 
oppressor's  wrong,  the  proud  man's  contumely." 
Through  long,  v/eary  generations  it  has  lived  in 
the  hearts  of  men  driven  to  God  by  man's  tyranny, 
and  forced  to  clutch  at  heaven's  brightness  to  keep 
them  from   being  made  mad  by  earth's  blackness. 


Col.iii.  iS-iv.i.]  THE   CHRISTIAN  FAMILY,  349 

It  may  irradiate  our  poor  lives,  especially  when  we 
fail,  as  we  all  do  sometimes,  to  get  recognition  of 
our  work,  or  fruit  from  it.  If  we  labour  for  man's 
appreciation  or  gratitude,  we  shall  certainly  be  dis- 
appointed ;  but  if  for  Christ,  we  have  abundant 
wages  beforehand,  and  we  shall  have  an  over- 
abundant requital,  the  munificence  of  which  will 
make  us  more  ashamed  of  our  unworthy  service 
than  anything  else  could  do.  Christ  remains  in  no 
man's  debt.  "  Who  hath  first  given,  and  it  shall  be 
recompensed  to  him  again  ? " 

The  last  word  to  the  slave  is  a  warning  against 
neglect  of  duty.  There  is  to  be  a  double  recom- 
pense— to  the  slave  of  Christ  the  portion  of  a  son  ; 
to  the  wrong  doer  retribution  "  for  the  wrong  that 
he  has  done."  Then,  though  slavery  was  itself  a 
wrong,  though  the  master  who  held  a  man  in  bondage 
was  himself  inflicting  the  greatest  of  all  wrongs,  yet 
Paul  will  have  the  slave  think  that  he  still  has  duties 
to  his  master.  That  is  part  of  Paul's  general  position 
as  to  slavery.  He  will  not  wage  war  against  it,  but 
for  the  present  accept  it.  Whether  he  saw  the  full 
bearing  of  the  gospel  on  that  and  other  infamous 
institutions  may  be  questioned.  He  has  given  us 
the  principles  which  will  destroy  them,  but  he  is  no 
revolutionist,  and  so  his  present  counsel  is  to  re- 
member the  master's  rights,  even  though  they  be 
founded  on  wrong,  and  he  has  no  hesitation  in  con- 
demning and  predicting  retribution  for  evil  things 
done  by  a  slave  to  his  master.  A  superior's  injustice 
does  not  warrant  an  inferior's  breach  of  moral  law, 
though  it  may  excuse  it.  Two  blacks  do  not  make 
a  white.  Herein  lies  the  condemnation  of  all  the 
crimes  which  enslaved  nations  and  classes  have  done, 


350  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIAXS. 

of  many  a  deed  which  has  been  honoured  and  sung, 
of  the  sanguinary  cruelties  of  servile  revolts,  as  well 
as  of  the  questionable  means  to  which  labour  often 
resorts  in  modern  industrial  warfare.  The  homely, 
plain  principle,  that  a  man  does  not  receive  the  right 
to  break  God's  laws  because  he  is  ill-treated,  would 
clear  away  much  fog  from  some  people's  notions 
of  how  to  advance  the  cause  of  the  oppressed. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  this  warning  may  look 
towards  the  masters  also  ;  and  probably  the  same 
double  reference  is  also  to  be  discerned  in  the  closing 
words  to  the  slaves,  "  and  there  is  no  respect  of 
persons."  The  servants  were  naturally  tempted  to 
think  that  God  was  on  their  side,  as  indeed  He  was, 
but  also  to  think  that  the  great  coming  day  of  judg- 
ment was  mostly  meant  to  be  terrible  to  tyrants  and 
oppressors,  and  so  to  look  forward  to  it  with  a  fierce 
un-Christian  joy,  as  well  as  with  a  false  confidence 
built  only  on  their  present  misery.  They  would 
be  apt  to  think  that  God  did  "  respect  persons,"  in 
the  opposite  fashion  from  that  of  a  partial  judge 
■ — namely,  that  He  would  incline  the  scale  in  favour 
of  the  ill-used,  the  poor,  the  down-trodden  ;  that 
they  would  have  an  easy  test  and  a  light  sentence, 
while  His  frowns  and  His  severity  would  be  kept  for 
the  powerful  and  the  rich  who  had  ground  the  faces 
of  the  poor  and  kept  back  the  hire  of  the  labourer. 
It  was  therefore  a  needful  reminder  for  them,  and 
for  us  all,  that  that  judgment  has  nothing  to  do 
with  earthly  conditions,  but  only  with  conduct  and 
character  ;  that  sorrow  and  calamity  here  do  not 
open  heaven's  gates  hereafter,  and  that  the  slave  and 
master  are  tried  by  the  same  law. 

The  series  of  precepts  closes  with  a  brief  but  most 


Col.iii.  i8-iv.i.]  THE   CHRISTIAN  FAMILY.  351 

pregnant  word  to  masters.  They  are  bid  to  give  to 
their  slaves  "  that  which  is  just  and  equal,"  that  is  to 
say,  "equitable."  A  startling  criterion  for  a  master's 
duty  to  the  slave  who  was  denied  to  have  any  rights 
at  all.  They  were  chattels,  not  persons.  A  master 
might,  in  regard  to  them,  do  what  he  liked  with  his 
own  ;  he  might  crucify  or  torture,  or  commit  any 
crime  against  manhood  either  in  body  or  soul,  and 
no  voice  would  question  or  forbid.  How  astonished 
Roman  lawgivers  would  have  been  if  they  could 
have  heard  Paul  talking  about  justice  and  equity 
as  applied  to  a  slave  !  What  a  strange  new  dialect 
it  must  have  sounded  to  the  slave-owners  in  the 
Colossian  Church  !  They  would  not  see  how  far  the 
principle,  thus  quietly  introduced,  was  to  carry  suc- 
ceeding ages  ;  they  could  not  dream  of  the  great 
tree  that  was  to  spring  from  this  tiny  seed-precept  ; 
but  no  doubt  the  instinct  which  seldom  fails  an  un- 
justly privileged  class,  would  make  them  blindly  dis- 
like the  exhortation,  and  feel  as  if  they  were  getting 
out  of  their  depth  when  they  were  bid  to  consider 
what  was  "  right  '*  and  "  equitable  "  in  their  dealings 
with  their  slaves. 

The  Apostle  does  not  define  what  is  "  right  and 
equal."  That  will  come.  The  main  thing  is  to 
drive  home  the  conviction  that  there  are  duties 
owing  to  slaves,  inferiors,  employes.  We  are  far 
enough  from  a  satisfactory  discharge  of  these  yet  ; 
but,  at  any  rate,  everybody  now  admits  the  principle 
— and  we  have  mainly  to  thank  Christianity  for 
that.  Slowly  the  general  conscience  is  coming  to 
recognise  that  simple  truth  more  and  more  clearly, 
and  its  application  is  becoming  more  decisive  with 
each  generation.     There  is  much  to  be  done  before 


352  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

society  is  organized  on  that  principle,  but  the  time 
is  coming — and  till  it  is  come,  there  will  be  no 
peace.  All  masters  and  employers  of  labour,  in 
their  mills  and  warehouses,  are  bid  to  base  their 
relations  to  "  hands "  and  servants  on  the  one  firm 
foundation  of  "justice."  Paul  does  not  say,  Give 
your  servants  what  is  kind  and  patronising.  He 
wants  a  great  deal  more  than  that.  Charity  likes  to 
come  in  and  supply  the  wants  which  would  never 
have  been  felt  had  there  been  equity.  An  ounce  of 
justice  is  sometimes  worth  a  ton  of  charity. 

This  duty  of  the  masters  is  enforced  by  the  same 
thousfht  which  was  to  stimulate  the  servants  to 
their  tasks:  "ye  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven." 
That  is  not  only  stimulus,  but  it  is  pattern.  I  said 
that  Paul  did  not  specify  what  was  just  and  right, 
and  that  his  precept  might  therefore  be  objected  to 
as  vague.  Does  the  introduction  of  this  thought  of 
the  master's  Master  in  heaven,  take  away  any  of  the 
vagueness  .'*  If  Christ  is  our  Master,  then  we  are  to 
look  to  Him  to  see  what  a  master  ought  to  be,  and 
to  try  to  be  masters  like  that.  That  is  precise 
enough,  is  it  not }  That  grips  tight  enough,  does  it 
not  ?  Give  your  servants  what  you  expect  and 
need  to  get  from  Christ.  If  we  try  to  live  that 
commandment  for  twenty-four  hours,  it  will  pro- 
bably not  be  its  vagueness  of  which  we  complain. 

"  Ye  have  a  Master  in  heaven  "  is  the  great  prin- 
ciple on  which  all  Christian  duty  reposes.  Christ's 
command  is  my  law.  His  will  is  supreme.  His 
authority  absolute,  His  example  all-sufficient.  My 
soul,  my  life,  my  all  are  His.  My  will  is  not  my 
own.  My  possessions  are  not  my  own.  My  being 
is  not  my  own.      All  duty  is  elevated  into  obedience 


Col.iii.i8-iv.i.]       THE  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY,  353 

to  Him,  and  obedience  to  Him,  utter  and  absolute, 
is  dignity  and  freedom.  We  are  Christ's  slaves,  for 
He  has  bought  us  for  Himself,  by  giving  Himself 
for  us.  Let  that  great  sacrifice  win  our  heart's  love 
and  our  perfect  submission.  "  O  Lord,  truly  I  am 
Thy  servant,  Thou  hast  loosed  my  bonds."  Then 
all  earthly  relationships  will  be  fulfilled  by  us  ;  and 
we  shall  move  among  men,  breathing  blessing  and 
raying  out  brightness,  when  in  all,  we  remember 
that  we  have  a  Master  in  heaven,  and  do  all  our 
work  from  the  soul  as  to  Him  and  not  to  men. 


XXIII. 

PRECEPTS  FOR   THE    INNERMOST  AND   OUTERMOST 
LIFE. 

*'  Continue  stedfastly  in  prayer,  watching  therein  with  thanksgiving ; 
withal  praying  for  us  also,  that  God  may  open  unto  us  a  door  for  the 
word,  to  speak  the  mystery  of  Christ,  for  which  I  am  also  in  bonds ; 
that  I  may  make  it  manifest,  as  I  ought  to  speak.  Walk  in  wisdom 
toward  them  that  are  without,  redeeming  the  time.  Let  your  speech  be 
always  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt,  that  ye  may  know  how  ye  ought 
to  answer  each  one." — Col.  iv.  2-6  (Rev.  Ver.). 

SO  ends  the  ethical  portion  of  the  Epistle.  A 
glance  over  the  series  of  practical  exhortations, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  preceding  chapter  on- 
wards, will  show  that,  in  general  terms  we  may  say- 
that  they  deal  successively  with  a  Christian's  duties 
to  himself,  the  Church,  and  the  family.  And  now, 
these  last  advices  touch  the  two  extremes  of  life, 
the  first  of  them  having  reference  to  the  hidden  life 
of  prayer,  and  the  second  and  third  to  the  outward, 
busy  life  of  the  market-place  and  the  street.  That 
bringing  together  of  the  extremes  seems  to  be  the 
link  of  connection  here.  The  Christian  life  is  first 
regarded  as  gathered  into  itself — coiled  as  it  were 
on  its  centre,  like  some  strong  spring.  Next,  it  is 
regarded  as  it  operates  in  the  world,  and,  like  the 
uncoiling  spring,  gives  motion  to  wheels  and  pinions. 
These  two  sides  of  experience  and  duty  are  often 
hard  to  blend  harmoniously.     The  conflict  between 


Col.  iv.  2-6.]  PRECEPTS.  355 

busy  Martha,  who  serves,  and  quiet  Mary,  who  only 
sits  and  gazes,  goes  on  in  every  age  and  in  every 
heart.  Here  we  may  find,  in  some  measure,  the 
principle  of  reconciliation  between  their  antagonistic 
claims.  Here  is,  at  all  events,  the  protest  against 
allowing  either  to  oust  the  other.  Continual  prayer 
is  to  blend  with  unwearied  action.  We  are  so  to 
walk  the  dusty  ways  of  life  as  to  be  ever  in  the 
secret  place  of  the  Most  High.  "  Continue  stedfastly 
in  prayer,"  and  withal  let  there  be  no  unwholesome 
withdrawal  from  the  duties  and  relationships  of  the 
outer  world,  but  let  the  prayer  pass  into,  first,  a  wise 
walk,  and  second,  an  ever-gracious  speech. 

I.  So  we  hava  here,  first,  an  exhortation  to  a 
hidden  life  of  constant  prayer. 

The  word  rendered  '*  continue  "  in  the  Authorised 
Version,  and  more  fully  in  the  Revised  Version  by 
"  continue  stedfastly,"  is  frequently  found  in  reference 
to  prayer,  as  well  as  in  other  connections.  A  mere 
enumeration  of  some  of  these  instances  may  help  to 
illustrate  its  full  meaning.  "  We  will  give  ourselves 
to  prayer,"  said  the  apostles  in  proposing  the  creation 
of  the  office  of  deacon.  "  Contijiuing  instaftt  in 
prayer  "  says  Paul  to  the  Roman  Church.  "  They 
continuing  daily  with  one  accord  in  the  Temple  "  is 
the  description  of  the  early  believers  after  Pentecost. 
Simon  Magus  is  said  to  have  "  continued  with 
Philip,"  where  there  is  evidently  the  idea  of  close 
adherence  as  well  as  of  uninterrupted  companionship. 
These  examples  seem  to  show  that  the  word  impHes 
both  earnestness  and  continuity  ;  so  that  this  injunc- 
tion not  only  covers  the  ground  of  Paul's  other 
exhortation,  "  Pray  without  ceasing,"  but  includes 
fervour  also. 


356  THE  EPISTLE  TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

The  Christian  life,  then,  ought  to  be  one  of  un- 
broken prayer. 

What  manner  of  prayer  can  that  be  which  is  to 
be  continuous  through  a  life  that  must  needs  be  full 
of  toil  on  outward  things  ?  How  can  such  a  precept 
be  obeyed  ?  Surely  there  is  no  need  for  paring  down 
its  comprehensiveness,  and  saying  that  it  merely 
means — a  very  frequent  recurrence  to  devout  exer- 
cises, as  often  as  the  pressure  of  daily  duties  will 
permit.  That  is  not  the  direction  in  which  the 
harmonising  of  such  a  precept  with  the  obvious 
necessities  of  our  position  is  to  be  sought.  We 
must  seek  it  in  a  more  inward  and  spiritual  notion 
of  prayer.  We  must  separate  between  the  form  and 
the  substance,  the  treasure  and  the  earthen  vessel 
which  carries  it.  What  is  prayer  ?  Not  the  utter- 
ance of  words — they  are  but  the  vehicle ;  but  the 
attitude  of  the  spirit.  Communion,  aspiration,  and 
submission,  these  three  are  the  elements  of  prayer 
- — and  these  three  may  be  diffused  through  a  life. 
It  is  possible,  though  difficult.  There  may  be  un- 
broken communion,  a  constant  consciousness  of  God's 
presence,  and  of  our  contact  with  Him,  thrilling 
through  our  souls  and  freshening  them,  like  some 
breath  of  spring  reaching  the  toilers  in  choky  factories 
and  busy  streets  ;  or  even  if  the  communion  do  not 
run  like  an  absolutely  unbroken  line  of  light  through 
our  lives,  the  points  may  be  so  near  together  as  all 
but  to  touch.  In  such  communion  words  are  need- 
less. When  spirits  draw  closest  together  there  is  no 
need  for  speech.  Silently  the  heart  may  be  kept 
fragrant  with  God's  felt  presence,  and  sunny  with 
the  light  of  His  face.  There  are  towns  nestling 
beneath  the  Alps,  every  narrow  filthy  alley  of  which 


Col.  iv.  2-6.]  PRECEPTS.  357 

looks  to  the  great  solemn  snow-peaks,  and  the  in- 
habitants, amid  all  the  squalor  of  their  surroundings, 
have  that  apocalypse  of  wonder  ever  before  them,  if 
they  would  only  lift  their  eyes.  So  we,  if  we  will, 
may  live  with  the  majesties  and  beauties  of  the 
great  white  throne  and  of  Him  that  sat  on  it  closing 
every  vista  and  filling  the  end  of  every  common- 
place passage  in  our  lives. 

In  like  manner,  there  may  be  a  continual,  un- 
spoken and  unbroken  presence  of  the  second  element 
of  prayer,  which  is  aspiration,  or  desire  after  God. 
All  circumstances,  whether  duty,  sorrow  or  joy, 
should  and  may  be  used  to  stamp  more  deeply  on 
my  consciousness  the  sense  of  my  weakness  and 
need ;  and  every  moment,  with  its  experience  of 
God's  swift  and  punctual  grace,  and  all  my  com- 
munion with  Him  which  unveils  to  me  His  beauty 
— should  combine  to  move  longings  for  Him,  for 
more  of  Him.  The  very  deepest  cry  of  the  heart 
which  understands  its  own  yearnings,  is  for  the 
living  God  ;  and  perpetual  as  the  hunger  of  the 
spirit  for  the  food  which  will  stay  its  profound 
desires,  will  be  the  prayer,  though  it  may  often  be 
voiceless,  of  the  soul  which  knows  where  alone  that 
food  is. 

Continual  too  may  be  our  submission  to  His  will, 
which  is  an  essential  of  all  prayer.  Many  people's 
notion  is  that  our  prayer  is  urging  our  wishes  on 
God,  and  that  His  answer  is  giving  us  what  we 
desire.  But  true  prayer  is  the  meeting  in  harmony 
of  God's  will  and  man's,  and  its  deepest  expression 
is  not,  Do  this,  because  I  desire  it,  O  Lord  ;  but,  I 
do  this  because  Thou  desirest  it,  O  Lord.  That 
submission  may  be  the  very  spring  of  all  life,  and 


358  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

whatsoever  work  is  done  in  such  spirit,  however 
"  secular  "  and  however  small  it  be,  were  it  making 
buttons,  is  truly  prayer. 

So  there  should  run  all  through  our  lives  the 
music  of  that  continual  prayer,  heard  beneath  all 
our  varying  occupations  like  some  prolonged  deep 
bass  note,  that  bears  up  and  gives  dignity  to  the 
lighter  melody  that  rises  and  falls  and  changes 
above  it,  like  the  spray  on  the  crest  of  a  great  wave. 
Our  lives  will  then  be  noble  and  grave,  and  woven 
into  a  harmonious  unity,  when  they  are  based  upon 
continual  communion  with,  continual  desire  after, 
and  continual  submission  to,  God.  If  they  are  not, 
they  will  be  worth  nothing  and  will  come  to  no- 
thing. 

But  such  continuity  of  prayer  is  not  to  be  attained 
without  effort  ;  therefore  Paul  goes  on  to  say, 
"  Watching  therein."  We  are  apt  to  do  drowsily 
whatever  we  do  constantly.  Men  fall  asleep  at  any 
continuous  work.  There  is  also  the  constant  in- 
fluence of  externals,  drawing  our  thoughts  away 
from  their  true  home  in  God,  so  that  if  we  are  to 
keep  up  continuous  devotion,  we  shall  have  to  rouse 
ourselves  often  when  in  the  very  act  of  dropping  off 
to  sleep.  "  Awake  up,  my  glory  !  "  we  shall  often 
have  to  say  to  our  souls.  Do  we  not  all  know  that 
subtly  approaching  languor }  and  have  we  not  often 
caught  ourselves  in  the  very  act  of  falling  asleep  at 
our  prayers }  We  must  make  distinct  and  resolute 
efforts  to  rouse  ourselves — we  must  concentrate  our 
attention  and  apply  the  needed  stimulants,  and 
bring  the  interest  and  activity  of  our  whole  nature 
to  bear  on  this  work  of  continual  prayer,  else  it  will 
become    drowsy  mumbling  as    of   a  man    but  half 


Col.  iv.  2-6.]  PRECEPTS.  359 

awake.  The  world  has  strong  opiates  for  the  soul, 
and  we  must  stedfastly  resist  their  influence,  if  we 
are  to  "  continue  in  prayer." 

One  way  of  30  watching  is  to  have  and  to  observe 
definite  times  of  spoken  prayer.  We  hear  much 
now-a-days  about  the  small  value  of  times  and  forms 
of  prayer,  and  how,  as  I  have  been  saying,  true 
prayer  is  independent  of  these,  and  needs  no  words. 
All  that,  of  course,  is  true  ;  but  when  the  practical 
conclusion  is  drawn  that  therefore  we  can  do  without 
the  outward  form,  a  grave  mistake,  full  of  mischief, 
is  committed.  I  do  not,  for  my  part,  believe  in  a 
devotion  diffused  through  a  life  and  never  concen- 
trated and  coming  to  the  surface  in  visible  outward 
acts  or  audible  words  ;  and,  as  far  as  I  have  seen, 
the  men  whose  religion  is  spread  all  through  their 
lives  most  really  are  the  men  who  keep  the  central 
reservoir  full,  if  I  may  so  say,  by  regular  and  frequent 
hours  and  words  of  prayer.  The  Christ,  whose  whole 
life  was  devotion  and  communion  with  the  Father, 
had  His  nights  on  the  mountains,  and  rising  up  a 
great  while  before  day,  He  watched  unto  prayer. 
We  must  do  the  like. 

One  more  word  has  still  to  be  said.  This  con- 
tinual prayer  is  to  be  "  with  thanksgiving  " — again 
the  injunction  so  frequent  in  this  letter,  in  such 
various  connections.  Every  prayer  should  be  blended 
with  gratitude,  without  the  perfume  of  which,  the 
incense  of  devotion  lacks  one  element  of  fragrance. 
The  sense  of  need,  or  the  consciousness  of  sin,  may 
evoke  "  strong  crying  and  tears,"  but  the  completest 
prayer  rises  confident  from  a  grateful  heart,  which 
weaves  memory  into  hope,  and  asks  much  because 
it  has  received   much.     A   true   recognition  of    the 


36o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

lovingkindness  of  the  past  has  much  to  do  with 
making  our  communion  sweet,  our  desires  believing, 
our  submission  cheerful.  Thankfulness  is  the  feather 
that  wings  the  arrow  of  prayer — the  height  from 
which  our  souls  rise  most  easily  to  the  sky. 

And  now  the  Apostle's  tone  softens  from  exhorta- 
tion to  entreaty,  and  with  very  sweet  and  touching 
humility  he  begs  a  supplemental  corner  in  their 
prayers.  "Withal  praying  also  for  us."  The  "withal" 
and  "  also  "  have  a  tone  of  lowliness  in  them,  while 
the  "  us,"  including  as  it  does  Timothy,  who  is 
associated  with  him  in  the  superscription  of  the 
letter,  and  possibly  others  also,  increases  the  im- 
pression of  modesty.  The  subject  of  their  prayers 
for  Paul  and  the  others  is  to  be  that  "  God  may 
open  unto  us  a  door  for  the  word."  That  phrase 
apparently  means  an  unhindered  opportunity  of 
preaching  the  gospel,  for  the  consequence  of  the 
door's  being  opened  is  added — "  to  speak  (so  that 
I  may  speak)  the  mystery  of  Christ."  The  special 
reason  for  this  prayer  is,  "for  which  I  am  also  (in 
addition  to  my  other  sufferings)  in  bonds." 

He  was  a  prisoner.  He  cared  little  about  that  or 
about  the  fetters  on  his  wrists,  so  far  as  his  own 
comfort  was  concerned  ;  but  his  spirit  chafed  at  the 
restraint  laid  upon  him  in  spreading  the  good  news 
of  Christ,  though  he  had  been  able  to  do  much  in 
his  prison,  both  among  the  Praetorian  guard,  and 
throughout  the  whole  population  of  Rom.e.  There- 
fore he  would  engage  his  friends  to  ask  God  to  open 
the  prison  doors,  as  He  had  done  for  Peter,  not  that 
Paul  might  come  out,  but  that  the  gospel  might. 
The  personal  was  swallowed  up;  all  that  he  cared 
for  was  to  do  hi.^  work. 


Col.  iv.  2-6.]  PRECEPTS,  361 

But  he  wants  their  prayers  for  more  than  that — 
"  that  I  may  make  it  manifest  as  I  ought  to  speak." 
This  is  probably  explained  most  naturally  as  meaning 
his  endowment  with  power  to  set  forth  the  message 
in  a  manner  adequate  to  its  greatness.  When  he 
thought  of  what  it  was  that  he,  unworthy,  had  to 
preach,  its  majesty  and  wonderfulness  brought  a  kind 
of  awe  over  his  spirit  ;  and  endowed,  as  he  was,  with 
apostolic  functions  and  apostolic  grace  ;  conscious, 
as  he  was,  of  being  anointed  and  inspired  by  God,  he 
yet  felt  that  the  richness  of  the  treasure  made  the 
earthen  vessel  seem  terribly  unworthy  to  bear  it.  His 
utterances  seemed  to  himself  poor  and  unmelodious 
beside  the  majestic  harmonies  of  the  gospel.  He 
could  not  soften  his  voice  to  breathe  tenderly  enough 
a  message  of  such  love,  nor  give  it  strength  enough 
to  peal  forth  a  message  of  such  tremendous  import 
and  world-wide  destination. 

If  Paul  felt  his  conception  of  the  greatness  of  the 
gospel  dwarfing  into  nothing  his  words  when  he  tried 
to  preach  it,  what  must  every  other  true  minister  of 
Christ  feel }  If  he,  in  the  fulness  of  his  inspiration, 
besought  a  place  in  his  brethren's  prayers,  how  much 
more  must  they  need  it,  who  try  with  stammering 
tongues  to  preach  the  truth  that  made  his  fiery 
words  seem  ice  ?  Every  such  man  must  turn  to 
those  who  love  him  and  listen  to  his  poor  present- 
ment of  the  riches  of  Christ,  with  Paul's  entreaty. 
His  friends  cannot  do  a  kinder  thing  to  him  than 
to  bear  him  on  their  hearts  in  their  prayers  to 
God. 

II.  We  have  here  next,  a  couple  of  precepts, 
which  spring  at  a  bound  from  the  inmost  secret 
of  the  Christian  life  to  its  circumference,  and  refer 


362  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

to  the  outward  life  in  regard  to  the  non-Christian 
world,  enjoining,  in  view  of  it,  a  wise  walk  and 
gracious  speech. 

"  Walk  in  wisdom  towards  them  that  are  without." 
Those  that  are  within  are  those  who  have  "  fled  for 
refuge"  to  Christ,  and  are  within  the  fold,  the  fortress, 
the  ark.  Men  who  sit  safe  within  while  the  storm 
howls,  may  simply  think  with  selfish  complacency  of 
the  poor  wretches  exposed  to  its  fierceness.  The 
phrase  may  express  spiritual  pride  and  even  con- 
tempt. All  close  corporations  tend  to  generate 
dislike  and  scorn  of  outsiders,  and  the  Church  has 
had  its  own  share  of  such  feeling ;  but  there  is  no 
trace  of  anything  of  the  sort  here.  Rather  is  there 
pathos  and  pity  in  the  word,  and  a  recognition  that 
their  sad  condition  gives  these  outsiders  a  claim  on 
Christian  men,  who  are  bound  to  go  out  to  their 
help  and  bring  them  in.  Precisely  because  they  are 
"  without "  do  those  within  owe  them  a  wise  walk, 
that  "  if  any  will  not  hear  the  word,  they  may  with- 
out the  word  be  won."  The  thought  is  in  some 
measure  parallel  to  our  Lord's  words,  of  which 
perhaps  it  is  a  reminiscence.  "  Behold  I  send  you 
forth " — a  strange  thing  for  a  careful  shepherd  to 
do — "  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves  ;  be  ye  there- 
fore wise  as  serpents."  Think  of  that  picture — the 
handful  of  cowering  frightened  creatures  huddled 
against  each  other,  and  ringed  round  by  that  yelping, 
white-toothed  crowd,  ready  to  tear  them  to  pieces  ! 
So  are  Christ's  followers  in  the  world.  Of  course, 
things  have  changed  in  many  respects  since  those 
days  ;  partly  because  persecution  has  gone  out  of 
fashion,  and  partly  because  "  the  world  "  has  been 
largely  influenced  by  Christian  morality,  and  partly 


Col.  iv.  2-6.]  PRECEPTS,  363 

because  the  Church  has  been  largely  secularized. 
The  temperature  of  the  two  has  become  nearly 
equalized  over  a  large  tract  of  professing  Christendom. 
So  a  tolerably  good  understanding  and  a  brisk  trade 
has  sprung  up  between  the  sheep  and  the  wolves. 
But  for  all  that,  there  is  fundamental  discord,  how- 
ever changed  may  be  its  exhibition,  and  if  we  are 
true  to  our  Master  and  insist  on  shaping  our  lives 
by  His  rules,  we  shall  find  out  that  there  is. 

We  need,  therefore,  to  "  walk  in  wisdom  "  towards 
the  non-Christian  world  ;  that  is,  to  let  practical 
prudence  shape  all  our  conduct.  If  we  are  Chris- 
tians, we  have  to  live  under  the  eyes  of  vigilant  and 
not  altogether  friendly  observers,  who  derive  satisfac- 
tion and  harm  from  any  inconsistency  of  ours.  A 
plainly  Christian  life  that  needs  no  commentary  to 
exhibit  its  harmony  with  Christ's  commandments  is 
the  first  duty  we  owe  to  them. 

And  the  wisdom  which  is  to  mould  our  lives  in 
view  of  these  outsiders  will  "  discern  both  time  and 
judgment,"  will  try  to  take  the  measure  of  men 
and  act  accordingly.  Common  sense  and  practical 
sagacity  are  important  accompaniments  of  Christian 
zeal.  What  a  singularly  complex  character,  in  this 
respect,  was  Paul's — enthusiastic  and  yet  capable 
of  such  diplomatic  adaptation  ;  and  withal  never 
dropping  to  cunning,  nor  sacrificing  truth  !  En- 
thusiasts who  despise  worldly  wisdom,  and  therefore 
often  dash  themselves  against  stone  walls,  are  not 
rare  ;  cool  calculators  who  abhor  all  generous  glow 
of  feeling  and  have  ever  a  pailful  of  cold  water  for 
any  project  which  shows  it,  are  only  too  common — . 
but  fire  and  ice  together,  like  a  volcano  with  glaciers 
streaming  down  its  cone,  are  rare.      Fervour  married 


364  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

to  tact,  common  sense  which  keeps  close  to  earth 
and  enthusiasm  which  flames  heaven  high,  are  a 
rare  combination.  It  is  not  often  that  the  same 
voice  can  say,  "  I  count  not  my  hfe  dear  to  myself," 
and  "  I  became  all  things  to  all  men." 

A  dangerous  principle  that  last,  a  very  slippery 
piece  of  ground  to  get  upon  ! — say  people,  and 
quite  truly.  It  is  dangerous,  and  one  thing  only 
will  keep  a  man's  feet  when  on  it,  and  that  is,  that 
his  wise  adaptation  shall  be  perfectly  unselfish,  and 
that  he  shall  ever  keep  clear  before  him  the  great 
object  to  be  gained,  which  is  nothing  personal,  but 
"  that  I  might  by  all  means  save  some."  If  that 
end  is  held  in  view,  we  shall  be  saved  from  the 
temptation  of  hiding  or  maim.ing  the  very  truth 
which  we  desire  should  be  received,  and  our  wise 
adaptation  of  ourselves  and  of  our  message  to  the 
needs  and  weaknesses  and  peculiarities  of  those 
*  who  are  without,"  will  not  degenerate  into  handling 
the  word  of  God  deceitfully.  Paul  advised  "walk- 
ing  in  wisdom  ; "  he  abhorred  "  walking  in  crafti- 
ness." 

We  owe  them  that  are  without  such  a  walk  as 
may  tend  to  bring  them  in.  Our  life  is  to  a  large 
extent  their  Bible.  They  know  a  great  deal  more 
about  Christianity,  as  they  see  it  in  us,  than  as  it  is 
revealed  in  Christ,  or  recorded  in  Scripture — and  if, 
as  seen  in  us,  it  does  not  strike  them  as  very  attrac- 
tive, small  wonder  if  they  still  prefer  to  remain 
where  they  are.  Let  us  take  care  lest  instead  of 
being  doorkeepers  to  the  house  of  the  Lord,  to 
beckon  passers-by  and  draw  them  in,  we  block 
the  doorway,  and  keep  them  from  seeing  the  wonders 
within. 


Col.  iv.  2-6.  PRECEPTS,  365 

The  Apostle  adds  a  special  way  in  which  this 
wisdom  shows  itself — namely,  "  redeeming  the  time." 
The  last  word  here  does  not  denote  time  in  general, 
but  a  definite  season,  or  opportunity.  The  lesson, 
then,  is  not  that  of  making  the  best  use  of  all  the 
moments  as  they  fly,  precious  as  that  lesson  is,  but 
that  of  discerning  and  eagerly  using  appropriate 
opportunities  for  Christian  service.  The  figure  is 
simple  enough  ;  to  "  buy  up  "  means  to  make  one's 
own.  "  Make  much  of  time,  let  not  advantage  slip," 
is  an  advice  in  exactly  the  same  spirit.  Two  things 
are  included  in  it  ;  the  watchful  study  of  characters, 
so  as  to  know  the  right  times  to  bring  influences  to 
bear  on  them,  and  an  earnest  diligence  in  utilizing 
these  for  the  highest  purposes.  We  have  not  acted 
wisely  towards  those  who  are  without  unless  we  have 
used  every  opportunity  to  draw  them  in. 

But  besides  a  wise  walk,  there  is  to  be  "  gracious 
speech."  "  Let  your  speech  be  always  with  grace." 
A  similar  juxtaposition  of  "  wisdom  "  and  "  grace  " 
occurred  in  chapter  iii.  16.  "Let  the  word  of 
Christ  dwell  in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom  .  ,  .  sing- 
ing with  grace  in  your  hearts "  ;  and  there  as  here, 
"  grace  "  may  be  taken  either  in  its  lower  aesthetic 
sense,  or  in  its  higher  spiritual.  It  may  mean  either 
favour,  agreeableness,  or  the  Divine  gift,  bestowed 
by  the  indwelling  Spirit.  The  former  is  supposed 
by  many  good  expositors  to  be  the  meaning  here. 
But  is  it  a  Christian's  duty  to  make  his  speech 
always  agreeable  t  Sometimes  it  is  his  plain  duty 
to  make  it  very  disagreeable  indeed.  If  our  speech 
is  to  be  true,  and  wholesome,  it  must  sometimes 
rasp  and  go  against  the  grain.  Its  pleasantness 
depends   on   the   inclinations   of  the  hearers   rather 


366  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

than  on  the  will  of  the  honest  speaker.  If  he  is  to 
"  redeem  the  time  "  and  "  walk  wisely  to  them  that 
are  without,"  his  speech  cannot  be  always  with  such 
grace.  The  advice  to  make  our  words  always 
pleasing  may  be  a  very  good  maxim  for  worldly 
success,  but  it  smacks  of  Chesterfield's  Letters 
rather  than  of  Paul's  Epistles. 

We  must  go  much  deeper  for  the  true  import  of 
this  exhortation.  It  is  substantially  this — whether 
you  can  speak  smooth  things  or  no,  and  whether 
your  talk  is  always  directly  religious  or  no — and  it 
need  not  and  cannot  always  be  that — let  there  ever 
be  in  it  the  manifest  influence  of  God's  Spirit,  Who 
dwells  in  the  Christian  heart,  and  will  mould  and 
sanctify  your  speech.  Of  you,  as  of  your  Master, 
let  it  be  true,  "  Grace  is  poured  into  thy  lips."  He 
in  whose  spirit  the  Divine  Spirit  abides  will  be 
truly  "  Golden-mouthed  "  ;  his  speech  shall  distil  as 
the  dew,  and  whether  his  grave  and  lofty  words 
please  frivolous  and  prurient  ears  or  no,  they  will  be 
beautiful  in  the  truest  sense,  and  show  the  Divine 
life  pulsing  through  them,  as  some  transparent  skin 
shows  the  throbbing  of  the  blue  veins.  Men  who 
feed  their  souls  on  great  authors  catch  their  style, 
as  some  of  our  great  living  orators,  who  are  eager 
students  of  English  poetry.  So  if  we  converse 
much  with  God,  listening  to  His  voice  in  our  hearts, 
our  speech  will  have  in  it  a  tone  that  will  echo  that 
deep  music.  Our  accent  will  betray  our  country. 
Then  our  speech  will  be  with  grace  in  the  lower 
sense  of  pleasingness.  The  truest  gracefulness,  both 
of  words  and  conduct,  comes  from  heavenly  grace. 
The  beauty  caught  from  God,  the  fountain  of  all 
things  lovely,  is  the  highest. 


Col.  iv.  2-6.]  PRECEPTS,  367 

The  speech  is  to  be  "  seasoned  with  salt.  That 
does  not  mean  the  "  Attic  salt "  of  wit.  There  is 
nothing  more  wearisome  than  the  talk  of  men  who 
are  always  trying  to  be  piquant  and  brilliant.  Such 
speech  is  like  a  "  pillar  of  salt  " — it  sparkles,  but  is 
cold,  and  has  points  that  wound,  and  it  tastes  bitter. 
That  is  not  what  Paul  recommends.  Salt  was  used 
in  sacrifice — let  the  sacrificial  salt  be  applied  to  all 
our  words ;  that  is,  let  all  we  say  be  offered  up 
to  God,  "  a  sacrifice  of  praise  to  God  continually." 
Salt  preserves.  Put  into  your  speech  what  will  keep 
it  from  rotting,  or,  as  the  parallel  passage  in  Ephe- 
sians  has  it,  "  let  no  corrupt  communication  proceed 
out  of  your  mouth."  Frivolous  talk,  dreary  gossip, 
ill-natured  talk,  idle  talk,  to  say  nothing  of  foul  and 
wicked  words,  will  be  silenced  when  your  speech  is 
seasoned  with  salt. 

The  following  words  make  it  probable  that  salt 
here  is  used  also  with  some  allusion  to  its  power  of 
giving  savour  to  food.  Do  not  deal  in  insipid 
generalities,  but  suit  your  words  to  your  hearers, 
"  that  ye  may  know  how  ye  ought  to  answer  each 
one."  Speech  that  fits  close  to  the  characteristics 
and  wants  of  the  people  to  whom  it  is  spoken  is 
sure  to  be  interesting,  and  that  which  does  not  will 
for  them  be  insipid.  Commonplaces  that  hit  full 
against  the  hearer  will  be  no  commonplaces  to  him, 
and  the  most  brilliant  words  that  do  not  meet  his 
mind  or  needs  will  to  him  be  tasteless  "  as  the  white 
of  an  ^gg!' 

Individual  peculiarities,  then,  must  determine  the 
wise  way  of  approach  to  each  man,  and  there  will  be 
wide  variety  in  the  methods.  Paul's  language  to 
the  wild  hill  tribes  of  Lycaonia  was  not  the  same  as 


36S  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 


to  the  cultivated,  curious  crowd  on  Mars'  Hill,  and 
his  sermons  in  the  synagogues  have  a  different  tone 
from  his  reasonings  of  judgment  to  come  before 
Felix. 

All  that  is  too  plain  to  need  illustration.  But 
one  word  may  be  added.  The  Apostle  here  regards 
it  as  the  task  of  every  Christian  man  to  speak  for 
Christ.  Further,  he  recommends  dealing  with  indi- 
viduals rather  than  masses,  as  being  within  the 
scope  of  each  Christian,  and  as  being  much  more 
efficacious.  Salt  has  to  be  rubbed  in,  if  it  is  to  do 
any  good.  It  is  better  for  most  of  us  to  fish  with 
the  rod  than  with  the  net,  to  angle  for  single  souls, 
rather  than  to  try  and  enclose  a  multitude  at  once. 
Preaching  to  a  congregation  has  its  own  place  and 
value  ;  but  private  and  personal  talk,  honestly  and 
wisely  done,  will  effect  more  than  the  most  eloquent 
preaching.  Better  to  drill  in  the  seeds,  dropping 
them  one  by  one  into  the  little  pits  made  for  their 
reception,  than  to  sow  them  broadcast. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  Christian  men  and 
women,  who  can  talk  animatedly  and  interestingly 
of  anything  but  of  their  Saviour  and  His  kingdom  > 
Timidity,  misplaced  reverence,  a  dread  of  seeming 
to  be  self-righteous,  a  regard  for  conventional  pro- 
prieties, and  the  national  reserve  account  for  much 
of  the  lamentable  fact  that  there  are  so  many  such. 
But  all  these  barriers  would  be  floated  away  like 
straws,  if  a  great  stream  of  Christian  feeling  were 
pouring  from  the  heart.  What  fills  the  heart  will 
overflow  by  the  floodgates  of  speech.  So  that  the 
real  reason  for  the  unbroken  silence  in  which  many 
Christian  people  conceal  their  faith  is  mainly  the 
small  quantity  of  it  which  there  is  to  conceal. 


Col.  iv  2-6.]  PRECEPTS.  369 

A  solemn  ideal  is  set  before  us  in  these  part- 
ing injunctions — a  higher  righteousness  than  was 
thundered  from  Sinai.  When  we  think  of  our 
hurried,  formal  devotion,  our  prayers  forced  from  us 
sometimes  by  the  pressure  of  calamity,  and  so  often 
suspended  when  the  weight  is  lifted  ;  of  the  occa- 
sional glimpses  that  we  get  of  God — as  sailors  may 
catch  sight  of  a  guiding  star  for  a  moment  through 
driving  fog,  and  of  the  long  tracts  of  life  which 
would  be  precisely  the  same,  as  far  as  our  thoughts 
are  concerned,  if  there  were  no  God  at  all,  or  He 
had  nothing  to  do  with  us — what  an  awful  com- 
mand that  seems,  "  Continue  stedfastly  in  prayer  "  ! 

When  we  think  of  our  selfish  disregard  of  the 
woes  and  dangers  of  the  poor  wanderers  without, 
exposed  to  the  storm,  while  we  think  ourselves  safe 
in  the  fold,  and  of  how  little  we  have  meditated  on 
and  still  less  discharged  our  obligations  to  them, 
and  of  how  we  have  let  precious  opportunities  slip 
through  our  slack  hands,  we  may  well  bow  rebuked 
before  the  exhortation,  "Walk  in  wisdom  toward 
them  that  are  without." 

When  we  think  of  the  stream  of  words  evef 
flowing  from  our  lips,  and  how  few  grains  of  gold 
that  stream  has  brought  down  amid  all  its  sand,  and 
how  seldom  Christ's  name  has  been  spoken  by  us 
to  hearts  that  heed  Him  not  nor  know  Him,  the 
exhortation,  "  Let  your  speech  be  always  with 
grace,"  becomes  an  indictment  as  truly  as  a  com- 
mand. 

There  is  but  one  place  for  us,  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  that  there  we  may  obtain  forgiveness  for  all 
the  faulty  past  and  thence  may  draw  consecration 
and  strength  for   the  future,  to   enable   us  to  keep 

24 


370  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

that  lofty  law  of  Christian  morality,  which  is  high 
and  hard  if  we  think  only  of  its  precepts,  but 
becomes  light  and  easy  when  we  open  our  hearts  to 
receive  the  power  for  obedience,  "  which,"  as  this 
great  Epistle  manifoldly  teaches,  "is  Christ  in  you, 
the  hope  of  glory." 


XXIV. 

TYCHICUS  AND   ONESIMUS,    THE  LETTER-BEARERS. 

"  All  my  affairs  shall  Tychicus  make  known  unto  you,  the  beloved 
brother  and  faithful  minister  and  fellow-servant  in  the  Lord  :  whom  I 
have  sent  unto  you  for  this  very  purpose,  that  ye  may  know  our 
estate,  and  that  he  may  comfort  your  hearts ;  together  with  Onesimus, 
the  faithful  and  beloved  brother,  who  is  one  of  you.  They  shall  make 
known  unto  you  all  things  that  are  done  here." — CoL.  iv.  7-9  (Rev. 
Ver.). 

IN  Paul's  days  it  was  perhaps  more  difficult  to  get 
letters  delivered  than  to  write  them.  It  was  a 
long,  weary  journey  from  Rome  to  Colossse, — across 
Italy,  then  by  sea  to  Greece,  across  Greece,  then  by 
sea  to  the  port  of  Ephesus,  and  thence  by  rough 
ways  to  the  upland  valley  where  lay  Colossae,  with 
its  neighbouring  towns  of  Laodicea  and  Hierapolis. 
So  one  thing  which  the  Apostle  has  to  think  about 
is  to  find  messengers  to  carry  his  letter.  He  pitches 
upon  these  two,  Tychicus  and  Onesimus.  The 
former  is  one  of  his  personal  attendants,  told  off  for 
this  duty  ;  the  other,  who  has  been  in  Rome  under 
very  peculiar  circumstances,  is  going  home  to 
Colossae,  on  a  strange  errand,  in  which  he  may  be 
helped  by  having  a  message  from  Paul  to  carry. 

We  shall  not  now  deal  with  the  words  before  us, 
so  much  as  with  these  two  figures,  whom  we  may 
regard  ai  representing  certain  principles,  and  embody- 
ing some  useful  lessons. 


372  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE   COLOSSIA\S, 

I.  Tychicus  may  stand  as  representing  the  great- 
ness and  sacredness  of  small  and  secular  service 
done  for  Christ. 

We  must  first  try,  in  as  few  words  as  may  be,  to 
change  the  name  into  a  man.  There  is  something 
very  solemn  and  pathetic  in  these  shadowy  names 
which  appear  for  a  moment  on  the  page  of  Scripture, 
and  are  swallowed  up  of  black  night,  like  stars  that 
suddenly  blaze  out  for  a  week  or  two,  and  then 
dwindle  and  at  last  disappear  altogether.  They  too 
lived,  and  loved,  and  strove,  and  suffered,  and  en- 
joyed :  and  now — all  is  gone,  gone  ;  the  hot  fire 
burned  down  to  such  a  little  handful  of  white  ashes. 
Tychicus  and  Onesimus  !  two  shadows  that  once 
were  men  !   and  as  they  are,  so  we  shall  be. 

As  to  Tychicus,  there  are  several  fragmentary 
notices  about  him  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  in 
Paul's  letters,  and  although  they  do  not  amount  to 
much,  still  by  piecing  them  together,  and  looking  at 
them  with  some  sympathy,  we  can  get  a  notion  of 
the  man. 

He  does  not  appear  till  near  the  end  of  Paul's 
missionary  work,  and  was  probably  one  of  the  fruits 
of  the  Apostle's  long  residence  in  Ephesus  on  his 
last  missionary  tour,  as  we  do  not  hear  of  him  till 
after  that  period.  That  stay  in  Ephesus  was  cut 
short  by  the  silversmiths'  riot — the  earliest  example 
of  trades'  unions — when  they  wanted  to  silence  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  because  it  damaged  the 
market  for  "  shrines,"  and  "  also "  was  an  insult  to 
the  great  goddess  !  Thereupon  Paul  retired  to 
Europe,  and  after  some  months  there,  decided  on 
his  last  fateful  journey  to  Jerusalem.  On  the  way 
he  was  joined   by  a   remarkable  group  of   friends, 


Col. iv. 7-9]  TYCHICUS  AND   ONESIMUS.  373 

seven  in  number,  and  apparently  carefully  selected 
so  as  to  represent  the  principal  fields  of  the  Apostle's 
labours.  There  were  three  Europeans,  two  from 
"  Asia  " — meaning  by  that  name,  of  course,  only  the 
Roman  province,  which  included  mainly  the  western 
seaboard — and  two  from  the  wilder  inland  country 
of  Lycaonia.  Tychicus  was  one  of  the  two  from 
Asia ;  the  other  was  Trophimus,  whom  we  know  to 
have  been  an  Ephesian  (Acts  xxi.  29),  as  Tychicus 
may  not  improbably  have  also  been. 

We  do  not  know  that  all  the  seven  accompanied 
Paul  to  Jerusalem.  Trophimus  we  know  did,  and 
another  of  them,  Aristarchus,  is  mentioned  as  having 
sailed  with  him  on  the  return  voyage  from  Palestine 
(Acts  xxvii,  2).  But  if  they  were  not  intended  to 
go  to  Jerusalem,  why  did  they  meet  him  at  all  t 
The  sacredness  of  the  number  seven,  the  apparent 
care  to  secure  a  representation  of  the  whole  field  of 
apostolic  activity,  and  the  long  distances  that  some 
of  them  must  have  travelled,  make  it  extremely 
unlikely  that  these  men  should  have  met  him  at  a 
little  port  in  Asia  Minor  for  the  mere  sake  of  being 
with  him  for  a  few  days.  It  certainly  seems  much 
more  probable  that  they  joined  his  company  and 
went  on  to  Jerusalem.  What  for }  Probably  as 
bearers  of  money  contributions  from  the  whole  area 
of  the  Gentile  Churches,  to  the  "  poor  saints  "  there 
— a  purpose  which  would  explain  the  composition 
of  the  delegation.  Paul  was  too  sensitive  and  too 
sagacious  to  have  more  to  do  with  money  matters 
than  he  could  help.  We  learn  from  his  letter  to 
the  Church  at  Corinth  that  he  insisted  on  another 
brother  being  associated  with  him  in  the  adminis- 
tration of   their  alms,  so  that  no  man   could    raise 


374  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

suspicions  against  him.  Paul's  principle  was  that 
which  ought  to  guide  every  man  entrusted  with 
other  people's  money  to  spend  for  religious  or 
charitable  purposes — "  I  shall  not  be  your  almoner 
unless  some  one  appointed  by  you  stands  by  me  to 
see  that  I  spend  your  money  rightly  " — a  good  ex- 
ample which,  it  is  much  to  be  desired,  were  followed 
by  all  workers,  and  required  to  be  followed  as  a 
condition  of  all  giving. 

These  seven,  at  all  events,  began  the  long  journey 
with  Paul.  Among  them  is  our  friend  Tychicus, 
who  may  have  learned  to  know  the  Apostle  more 
intimately  during  it,  and  perhaps  developed  qualities 
in  travel  which  marked  him  out  as  fit  for  the  errand 
on  which  we  here  find  him. 

This  voyage  was  about  the  year  58  A.D.  Then 
comes  an  interval  of  some  three  or  four  years,  in 
which  occur  Paul's  arrest  and  imprisonment  at 
Cassarea,  his  appearance  before  governors  and  kings, 
his  voyage  to  Italy  and  shipwreck,  with  his  residence 
in  Rome.  Whether  Tychicus  was  with  him  during 
all  this  period,  as  Luke  seems  to  have  been,  we  do 
not  know,  nor  at  what  point  he  joined  the  Apostle, 
if  he  was  not  his  companion  throughout.  But 
the  verses  before  us  show  that  he  was  with  Paul 
during  part  of  his  first  Roman  captivity,  probably 
about  A.D.  62  or  63  ;  and  their  commendation  ot 
him  as  "  a  faithful  minister,"  or  helper  of  Paul,  im- 
plies that  for  a  considerable  period  before  this  he 
had  been  rendering  services  to  the  Apostle. 

He  is  now  despatched  all  the  long  way  to  Colossae 
to  carry  this  letter,  and  to  tell  the  Church  by  word 
of  mouth  all  that  had  happened  in  Rome.  No  in- 
formation of  that  kind  is  in  the  letter  itself.      That 


Col. iv.  7-9]  TYCHICUS  AND   ONESIMUS.  375 

silence  forms  a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  aftectionate 
abundance  of  personal  details  in  another  prison 
letter,  that  to  the  Philippians,  and  probably  marks 
this  Epistle  as  addressed  to  a  Church  never  visited 
by  Paul.  Tychicus  is  sent,  according  to  the  most 
probable  reading,  that  "ye  may  know  our  estate, 
and  that  he  may  comfort  your  hearts  " — encourag- 
ing the  brethren  to  Christian  stedfastness,  not  only 
by  his  news  of  Paul,  but  by  his  own  company  and 
exhortations. 

The  very  same  words  are  employed  about  him 
in  the  contemporaneous  letter  to  the  Ephesians. 
Evidently,  then,  he  carried  both  epistles  on  the  same 
journey  ;  and  one  reason  for  selecting  him  as  mes- 
senger is  plainly  that  he  was  a  native  of  the 
province,  and  probably  of  Ephesus.  When  Paul 
looked  round  his  little  circle  of  attendant  friends,  his 
eye  fell  on  Tychicus,  as  the  very  man  for  such  an 
errand.  "  You  go,  Tychicus.  It  is  your  home ;  they 
all  know  you." 

The  most  careful  students  now  think  that  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  was  meant  to  go  the  round 
of  the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor,  beginning,  no  doubt, 
with  that  in  the  great  city  of  Ephesus.  If  that  be 
so,  and  Tychicus  had  to  carry  it  to  these  Churches 
in  turn,  he  would  necessarily  come,  in  the  course  of 
his  duty,  to  Laodicea,  which  was  only  a  few  miles 
from  Colossae,  and  so  could  most  conveniently 
deliver  this  Epistle.  The  wider  and  the  narrower 
mission  fitted  into  each  other. 

No  doubt  he  went,  and  did  his  work.  We  can 
fancy  the  eager  groups,  perhaps  in  some  upper  room, 
perhaps  in  some  quiet  place  of  prayer  by  the  river 
side ;  in  their  midst  the  two  messengers,  with  a  little 


376  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSI  A  NS. 

knot  of  listeners  and  questioners  round  each.  How 
they  would  have  to  tell  the  story  a  dozen  times 
over !  how  every  detail  would  be  precious !  how 
tears  would  come  and  hearts  would  glow !  how  deep 
into  the  night  they  would  talk !  and  how  many  a 
heart  that  had  begun  to  waver  would  be  con- 
firmed in  cleaving  to  Christ  by  the  exhortations  of 
Tychicus,  by  the  very  sight  of  Onesimus,  and  by 
Paul's  words  of  fire  ! 

What  became  of  Tychicus  after  that  journey  we 
do  not  know.  Perhaps  he  settled  down  at  Ephesus 
for  a  time,  perhaps  he  returned  to  Paul.  At  any 
rate,  we  get  two  more  glimpses  of  him  at  a  later 
period — one  in  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  in  which  we 
hear  of  the  Apostle's  intention  to  despatch  him 
on  another  journey  to  Crete,  and  the  last  in  the 
close  of  the  second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  written 
from  Rome  probably  about  A.D.  6^,  The  Apostle 
believes  that  his  death  is  near,  and  seems  to  have 
sent  away  most  of  his  staff.  Among  the  notices  of 
their  various  appointments  we  read,  "  Tychicus  have 
I  sent  to  Ephesus."  He  is  not  said  to  have  been 
sent  on  any  mission  connected  with  the  Churches. 
It  may  be  that  he  was  simply  sent  away  because, 
by  reason  of  his  impending  martyrdom,  Paul  had  no 
more  need  of  him.  True,  he  still  has  Luke  by  him, 
and  he  wishes  Timothy  to  come  and  bring  his  first 
"  minister,"  Mark,  with  him.  But  he  has  sent  away 
Tychicus,  as  if  he  had  said,  Now,  go  back  to  your 
home,  my  friend  !  You  have  been  a  faithful  servant 
for  ten  years.  I  need  you  no  more.  Go  to  your 
own  people,  and  take  my  blessing.  God  be  with 
you !  So  they  parted,  he  that  was  for  death,  to 
die !  and  he  that  was  for  life,  to  live  and  to  treasure 


Col. iv. 7-9]         TYCHICUS  AND   ONESIMUS.  377 

the  memory  of  Paul  in  his  heart  for  the  rest  of  his 
days.  These  are  the  facts ;  ten  years  of  faithful 
service  to  the  Apostle,  partly  during  his  detention 
in  Rome,  and  much  of  it  spent  in  wearisome  and 
dangerous  travelling  undertaken  to  carry  a  couple 
of  letters. 

As  for  his  character,  Paul  has  given  us  something 
of  it  in  these  few  words,  which  have  commended 
him  to  a  wider  circle  than  the  handful  of  Christians 
at  Colossae.  As  for  his  personal  godliness  and 
goodness,  he  is  "a  beloved  brother,"  as  are  all  who 
love  Christ ;  but  he  is  also  a  "  faithful  minister,"  or 
personal  attendant  upon  the  Apostle.  Paul  always 
seems  to  have  had  one  or  two  such  about  him,  from 
the  time  of  his  first  journey,  when  John  Mark  filled 
the  post,  to  the  end  of  his  career.  Probably  he  was 
no  great  hand  at  managing  affairs,  and  needed  some 
plain  common-sense  nature  beside  him,  who  would 
be  secretary  or  amanuensis  sometimes,  and  general 
helper  and  factotum.  Men  of  genius  and  men 
devoted  to  some  great  cause  which  tyrannously 
absorbs  attention,  want  some  person  to  fill  such  a 
homely  office.  The  person  who  filled  it  would  be 
likely  to  be  a  plain  man,  not  gifted  in  any  special 
degree  for  higher  service.  Common  sense,  willing- 
ness to  be  troubled  with  small  details  of  purely 
secular  arrangements,  and  a  hearty  love  for  the  chief, 
and  desire  to  spare  him  annoyance  and  work,  were 
the  qualifications.  Such  probably  was  Tychicus — 
no  orator,  no  organiser,  no  thinker,  but  simply  an 
honest,  loving  soul,  who  did  not  shrink  from  rough 
outward  work,  if  only  it  might  help  the  cause.  We 
do  not  read  that  he  was  a  teacher  or  preacher,  or 
miracle   worker.      His    gift    was — ministry,   and    he 


378  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIAA'S. 

gave  himself  to  his  ministry.  His  business  was  to 
run  Paul's  errands,  and,  like  a  true  man,  he  ran 
them  "  faithfully." 

So  then,  he  is  fairly  taken  as  representing  the 
greatness  and  sacredness  of  small  and  secular  service 
for  Christ.  For  the  Apostle  goes  on  to  add  some- 
thing to  his  eulogium  as  a  "faithful  minister" — 
when  he  calls  him  "  a  fellow-servant,"  or  slave,  "  in 
the  Lord."  As  if  he  had  said,  Do  not  suppose  that 
because  I  write  this  letter,  and  Tychicus  carries  it, 
there  is  much  difference  between  us.  We  are  both 
slaves  of  the  same  Lord  who  has  set  each  of  us 
his  tasks ;  and  though  the  tasks  be  different,  the 
obedience  is  the  same,  and  the  doers  stand  on  one 
level.  I  am  not  Tychicus'  master,  though  he  be  my 
minister.  We  have  both,  as  I  have  been  reminding 
you  that  you  all  have,  an  owner  in  heaven.  The 
delicacy  of  the  turn  thus  given  to  the  commend- 
ation is  a  beautiful  indication  of  Paul's  generous, 
chivalrous  nature.  No  wonder  that  such  a  soul 
bound  men  like  Tychicus  to  him ! 

But  there  is  more  than  merely  a  revelation  of  a 
beautiful  character  in  the  words ;  there  are  great 
truths  in  them.  We  may  draw  them  out  in  two  or 
three  thoughts. 

Small  things  done  for  Christ  are  great.  Trifles 
that  contribute  and  are  indispensable  to  a  great 
result  are  great ;  or  perhaps,  more  properly,  both 
words  are  out  of  place.  In  some  powerful  engine 
there  is  a  little  screw,  and  if  it  drop  out,  the  great 
piston  cannot  rise  nor  the  huge  crank  turn.  What 
have  big  and  little  to  do  with  things  which  are 
equally  indispensable }  There  is  a  great  rudder  that 
steers  an  ironclad.     It  moves  on  a  "pintle"  a  few 


Col.  iv.  7-9.]  TYCHICUS  AND  ONESIMUS.  379 

inches  long.  If  that  bit  of  iron  were  gone,  what 
would  become  of  the  rudder,  and  what  would  be  the 
use  of  the  ship  with  all  her  guns  ?  There  is  an  old 
jingling  rhyme  about  losing  a  shoe  for  want  of  a 
nail,  and  a  horse  for  want  of  a  shoe,  and  a  man  for 
want  of  a  horse,  and  a  battle  for  want  of  a  man,  and 
a  kingdom  for  loss  of  a  battle.  The  intervening 
links  may  be  left  out — and  the  nail  and  the  king- 
dom brought  together.  In  a  similar  spirit,  we  may 
say  that  the  trifles  done  for  Christ  which  help  the 
great  things  are  as  important  as  these.  What  is 
the  use  of  writing  letters,  if  you  cannot  get  them 
delivered  }  It  takes  both  Paul  and  Tychicus  to  get 
the  letter  into  the  hands  of  the  people  at  Colossae. 

Another  thought  suggested  by  the  figure  of 
Paul's  minister,  who  was  also  his  fellow-slave,  is  the 
sacredness  of  secular  work  done  for  Christ.  When 
Tychicus  is  caring  for  Paul's  comfort,  and  looking 
after  common  things  for  him,  he  is  serving  Christ, 
and  his  work  is  "  in  the  Lord."  That  is  equivalent 
to  saying  that  the  distinction  between  sacred  and 
secular,  religious  and  non-religious,  like  that  of  great 
and  small,  disappears  from  work  done  for  and  in 
Jesus.  Whenever  there  is  organization,  there  must 
be  much  work  concerned  with  purely  material 
things :  and  the  most  spiritual  forces  must  have 
some  organization.  There  must  be  men  for  "  the 
outward  business  of  the  house  of  God  "  as  well  as 
white-robed  priests  at  the  altar,  and  the  rapt  gazer 
in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High.  There  are 
a  hundred  matters  of  detail  and  of  purely  outward 
and  mechanical  sort  which  must  be  seen  to  by 
somebody.  The  alternative  is  to  do  them  in  a 
purely  mechanical   and   secular   manner   and   so   to 


38o  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CO  LOSS  JANS. 

make  the  work  utterly  dreary  and  contemptible,  or 
in  a  devout  and  earnest  manner  and  so  to  hallow 
them  all,  and  make  worship  of  them  all.  The 
difference  between  two  lives  is  not  in  the  material 
on  which,  but  in  the  motive  from  which,  and  in  the 
end  for  which,  they  are  respectively  lived.  All  work 
done  in  obedience  to  the  same  Lord  is  the  same  in 
essence  ;  for  it  is  all  obedience  ;  and  all  work  done 
for  the  same  God  is  the  same  in  essence,  for  it  is 
all  worship.  The  distinction  between  secular  and 
sacred  ought  never  to  have  found  its  way  into 
Christian  'morals,  and  ought  for  evermore  to  be 
expelled  from  Christian  life. 

Another  thought  may  be  suggested — fleeting 
things  done  for  Christ  are  eternal.  How  astonished 
Tychicus  would  have  been  if  anybody  had  told  him 
on  that  day  when  he  got  away  from  Rome,  with 
the  two  precious  letters  in  his  scrip,  that  these  bits 
of  parchment  would  outlast  all  the  ostentatious 
pomp  of  the  city,  and  that  his  name,  because  written 
in  them,  would  be  known  to  the  end  of  time  all  over 
the  world  !  The  eternal  things  are  the  things  done 
for  Christ.  They  are  eternal  in  His  memory  v/ho 
has  said,  "  I  will  never  forget  any  of  their  works," 
however  they  may  fall  from  man's  remembrance. 
They  are  perpetual  in  their  consequences.  True,  no 
man's  contribution  to  the  mighty  sum  of  things 
"  that  make  for  righteousness "  can  very  long  be 
traced  as  separate  from  the  others,  any  more  than 
the  raindrop  that  refreshed  the  harebell  on  the  moor 
can  be  traced  in  burn,  and  river,  and  sea.  But  for 
all  that,  it  is  there.  So  our  influence  for  good  blends 
with  a  thousand  others,  and  may  not  be  traceable 
beyond  a  short  distance,  still  it  is  there  ;  and  no  true 


Col.  iv.  7-9.]  TYCHICUS  AND  ONESIMUS.  381 


work  for  Christ,  abortive  as  it  may  seem,  but  goes  to 
swell  the  great  aggregate  of  forces  which  are  working 
on  through  the  ages  to  bring  the  perfect  Order. 

That  Colossian  Church  seems  a  failure.  Where 
is  it  now  ?  Gone.  Where  are  its  sister  Churches 
of  Asia  ?  Gone.  Paul's  work  and  Tychicus'  seem  to 
have  vanished  from  the  earth,  and  Mohammedanism 
to  have  taken  its  place.  Yes  !  and  here  are  we 
to-day  in  England,  and  Christian  men  all  over  the 
world  in  lands  that  were  mere  slaughterhouses  of 
savagery  then,  learning  our  best  lessons  from  Paul's 
words,  and  owing  something  for  our  knowledge  of 
them  to  Tychicus'  humble  care.  Paul  meant  to 
teach  a  handful  of  obscure  believers — he  has  edified 
the  world.  Tychicus  thought  to  carry  the  precious 
letter  safely  over  the  sea — he  was  helping  to  send  it 
across  the  centuries,  and  to  put  it  into  our  hands. 
So  little  do  we  know  where  our  work  will  terminate. 
Our  only  concern  is  where  it  begins.  Let  us  look 
after  this  end,  the  motive  ;  and  leave  God  to  take 
care  of  the  other,  the  consequences. 

Such  work  will  be  perpetual  in  its  consequences 
on  ourselves.  "  Though  Israel  be  not  gathered,  yet 
shall  I  be  glorious."  Whether  our  service  for  Christ 
does  others  any  good  or  no,  it  will  bless  ourselves, 
by  strengthening  the  motives  from  which  it  springs, 
by  enlarging  our  own  knowledge  and  enriching  our 
own  characters,  and  by  a  hundred  other  gracious  in- 
fluences which  His  work  exerts  upon  the  devout 
worker,  and  which  become  indissoluble  parts  of  him- 
self, and  abide  with  him  for  ever,  over  and  above  the 
crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away. 

And,  as  the  reward  is  given  not  to  the  outward 
deed,  but  to  the  motive  which  settles  its  value,  all 


382  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS. 


work  done  from  the  same  motive  is  alike  in  reward, 
howsoever  different  in  form.  ^  Paul  in  the  front,  and 
Tychicus  obscure  in  the  rear,  the  great  teachers  and 
path-openers  whom  Christ  through  the  ages  raises 
up  for  large  spiritual  work,  and  the  little  people 
whom  Christ  through  the  ages  raises  up  to  help  and 
sympathize — shall  share  alike  at  last,  if  the  Spirit 
that  moved  them  has  been  the  same,  and  if  in 
different  administrations  they  have  served  the  same 
Lord.  "  He  that  receiveth  a  prophet  in  the  name 
of  a  prophet " — though  no  prophecy  come  from  his 
lips — "  shall  receive  a  prophet's  reward. 

II.  We  must  now  turn  to  a  much  briefer  con- 
sideration of  the  second  figure  here,  Onesimus,  as 
representing  the  transforming  and  uniting  power  of 
Christian  faith. 

No  doubt  this  is  the  same  Onesimus  as  we  read 
of  in  the  Epistle  to  Philemon.  His  story  is  familiar 
and  need  not  be  dwelt  on.  He  had  been  an  "  un- 
profitable servant,"  good-for-nothing,  and  apparently 
had  robbed  his  master,  and  then  fled.  He  had 
found  his  way  to  Rome,  to  which  all  the  scum  of 
the  empire  seemed  to  drift.  There  he  had  burrowed 
in  some  hole,  and  found  obscurity  and  security. 
Somehow  or  other  he  had  come  across  Paul — surely 
not,  as  has  been  supposed,  having  sought  the 
Apostle  as  a  friend  of  his  master's,  which  would 
rather  have  been  a  reason  for  avoiding  him.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  he  had  found  Paul,  and  Paul's 
Master  had  found  him  by  the  gospel  which  Paul 
spoke.  His  heart  had  been  touched.  And  now  he 
is  to  go  back  to  his  owner.  With  beautiful  consider- 
ateness  the  Apostle  unites  him  with  Tychicus  in  his 
mission,  and  refers  the  Church  to  him  as  an  autho- 


Col. iv.  7-9]  TYCHICUS  AND   ONESIMUS.  383 

rity.  That  is  most  delicate  and  thoughtful.  The 
same  sensitive  regard  for  his  feelings  marks  the 
language  in  which  he  is  commended  to  them. 
There  is  now  no  word  about  "  a  fellow-slave " — 
that  might  have  been  misunderstood  and  might  have 
hurt  Paul  will  only  say  about  him  half  of  what 
he  said  about  Tychicus.  He  cannot  leave  out  the 
"  faithful,"  because  Onesimus  had  been  eminently 
unfaithful,  and  so  he  attaches  it  to  that  half  of  his 
former  commendation  which  he  retains,  and  testifies 
to  him  as  "  a  faithful  and  beloved  brother."  There 
are  no  references  to  his  flight  or  to  his  peculations 
Philemon  is  the  person  to  be  spoken  to  about  these. 
The  Church  has  nothing  to  do  with  them.  The. 
man's  past  was  blotted  out — enough  that  he  is 
"  faithful,"  exercising  trust  in  Christ,  and  therefore 
to  be  trusted.  His  condition  was  of  no  moment — 
enough  that  he  is  "  a  brother,"  therefore  to  be  beloved. 
Does  not  then  that  figure  stand  forth  a  living 
illustration  of  the  transforming  power  of  Christianity  ? 
Slaves  had  well-known  vices,  largely  the  result  of 
their  position — idleness,  heartlessness,  lying,  dis- 
honesty. And  this  man  had  had  his  full  share  of 
the  sins  of  his  class.  Think  of  him  as  he  left  Colossae, 
slinking  from  his  master,  with  stolen  property  in  his 
bosom,  madness  and  mutiny  in  his  heart,  an  ignorant 
heathen,  with  vices  and  sensualities  holding  carnival 
in  his  soul.  Think  of  him  as  he  came  back,  Paul's 
trusted  representative,  with  desires  after  holiness  in 
his  deepest  nature,  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  a 
loving  and  pure  God  in  his  soul,  a  great  hope  before 
him,  ready  for  all  service  and  even  to  put  on  again 
the  abhorred  yoke!  What  had  happened ?  Nothing 
but  this — the  message  had  come  to  him,  "  Onesimus ! 


384  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  AN S. 

fugitive,  rebel,  thief  as  thou  art,  Jesus  Christ  has  died 
for  thee,  and  lives  to  cleanse  and  bless  thee.  Be- 
lievest  thou  this  ? "  And  he  believed,  and  leant  his 
whole  sinful  self  on  that  Saviour,  and  the  corruption 
faded  away  from  his  heart,  and  out  of  the  thief  was 
made  a  trustworthy  man,  and  out  of  the  slave  a 
beloved  brother.  The  cross  had  touched  his  heart 
and  will.  That  was  all.  It  had  changed  his  whole 
being.  He  is  a  living  illustration  of  Paul's  teaching 
in  this  very  letter.  He  is  dead  with  Christ  to  his 
old  self ;  he  lives  with  Christ  a  new  life.    • 

The  gospel  can  do  that.  It  can  and  does  do  so 
to-day  and  to  us,  if  we  will.  Nothing  else  can  ; 
nothing  else  ever  has  done  it ;  nothing  else  ever  will. 
Culture  may  do  much  ;  social  reformation  may  do 
much  ;  but  the  radical  transformation  of  the  nature 
is  only  effected  by  the  "  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in 
the  heart,"  and  by  the  new  life  which  we  receive 
through  our  faith  in  Christ. 

That  change  can  be  produced  on  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men.  The  gospel  despairs  of  none. 
It  knows  of  no  hopelessly  irreclaimable  classes.  It 
can  kindle  a  soul  under  the  ribs  of  death.  The 
filthiest  rags  can  be  cleaned  and  made  into  spotlessly 
white  paper,  which  may  have  the  name  of  God 
written  upon  it.  None  are  beyond  its  power  ; 
neither  the  savages  in  other  lands,  nor  the  more 
hopeless  heathens  festering  and  rotting  in  our  back 
slums,  the  opprobrium  of  our  civilization  and  the  in- 
dictment of  our  Christianity.  Take  the  gospel  that 
transformed  this  poor  slave,  to  them,  and  some  hearts 
will  own  it,  and  we  shall  pick  out  of  the  kennel  souls 
blacker  than  his,  and  make  them  like  him,  brethren, 
faithful  and  beloved. 


Col.  iv.  7-9.]  TYCUICUS  AND   ONESIMUS.  385 

Further,  here  is  a  living  illustration  of  the  power 
which  the  gospel  has  of  binding  men  into  a  true 
brotherhood.  We  can  scarcely  picture  to  ourselves 
the  gulf  which  separated  the  master  from  his  slave. 
"  So  many  slaves,  so  many  enemies,"  said  Seneca. 
That  great  crack  running  through  society  was  a 
chief  weakness  and  peril  of  the  ancient  world.  Chris- 
tianity gathered  master  and  slave  into  one  family, 
and  set  them  down  at  one  table  to  comm.emorate 
the  death  of  the  Saviour  who  held  them  all  in  the 
embrace  of  His  great  love. 

All  true  union  among  men  must  be  based  upon 
their  oneness  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  brotherhood  of 
man  is  a  consequence  of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  and 
Christ  shows  us  the  Father.  If  the  dreams  of  men's 
being  knit  together  in  harmony  are  ever  to  be  more 
than  dreams,  the  power  that  makes  them  facts  must 
flow  from  the  cross.  The  world  must  recognise  that 
"  One  is  your  master,"  before  it  comes  to  believe  as 
anything  more  than  the  merest  sentimentality  that 
"  ail  ye  are  brethren." 

Much  has  to  be  done  before  the  dawn  of  that  day 
reddens  in  the  east,  "  when,  man  to  man,  the  wide 
world  o'er,  shall  brothers  be,"  and  much  in  political 
and  social  life  has  to  be  swept  away  before  society  is 
organized  on  the  basis  of  Christian  fraternity.  The 
vision  tarries.  But  we  may  remember  how  certainly, 
though  slowly,  the  curse  of  slavery  has  disappeared, 
and  take  courage  to  believe  that  all  other  evils  will 
fade  away  in  like  manner,  until  the  cords  of  love 
shall  bind  all  hearts  in  fraternal  unity,  because  they 
bind  each  to  the  cross  of  the  Elder  Brother,  through 
whom  we  are  no  more  slaves  but  sons,  and  \i  sons  of 
God,  then  brethren  of  one  another. 

25 


XXV. 

SALUTATIONS  FROM  THE  PRISONER'S  FRIENDS. 

**  Aristarchus  my  fellow-prisoner  saluteth  you,  and  Mark,  the  cousin 
of  Barnabas  (touching  whom  ye  received  commandments;  if  he  come 
unto  you,  receive  him),  and  Jesus,  which  is  called  Justus,  who  are  of  the 
circumcision  :  these  only  are  my  fellow-workers  unto  the  kingdom  of 
God,  men  that  have  been  a  comfort  unto  me.  Epaphras,  who  is  one  of 
you,  a  servant  of  Christ  Jesus,  saluteth  you,  always  striving  for  you  in 
his  prayers,  that  ye  may  stand  perfect  and  fully  assured  in  all  the  will  of 
God.  For  I  bear  him  witness,  that  he  hath  much  labour  for  you,  and 
for  them  in  Laodicea,  and  for  them  in  Hierapolis.  Luke,  the  beloved 
physician,  and  Demas  salute  you. — COL.  iv.   10-14  (Rev.  Ver.). 

HERE  are  men  of  different  races,  unknown  to 
each  other  by  face,  clasping  hands  across  the 
seas,  and  feeling  that  the  repulsions  of  nationality, 
language,  conflicting  interests,  have  disappeared  in 
the  unity  of  faith.  These  greetings  are  a  most 
striking,  because  unconscious,  testimony  to  the 
reality  and  strength  of  the  new  bond  that  knit 
Christian  souls  together. 

There  are  three  sets  of  salutations  here,  sent 
from  Rome  to  the  little  far-off  Phrygian  town  in 
its  secluded  valley.  The  first  is  from  three  large- 
hearted  Jewish  Christians,  whose  greeting  has  a 
special  meaning  as  coming  from  that  wing  of  the 
Church  which  had  least  sympathy  with  Paul's  work  or 
converts.  The  second  is  from  the  Colossians'  towns- 
man Epaphras  ;  and  the  third  is  from  two  Gentiles  like 


Col.  iv.  10-14.]  SALUTATIONS,  387 

themselves,  one  well  known  as  Paul's  most  faithful 
friend,  one  almost  unknown,  of  whom  Paul  has 
nothing  to  say,  and  of  whom  nothing  good  can  be 
said.  All  these  may  yield  us  matter  for  consider- 
ation. It  is  interesting  to  piece  together  what  we 
know  of  the  bearers  of  these  shadowy  names.  It  is 
profitable  to  regard  them  as  exponents  of  certain 
tendencies  and  principles, 

I.  These  three  sympathetic  Jewish  Christians  may 
stand  as  types  of  a  progressive  and  non-ceremonial 
Christianity. 

We  need  spend  little  time  in  outlining  the  figures 
of  these  three,  for  he  in  the  centre  is  well  known  to 
every  one,  and  his  two  supporters  are  little  known 
to  any  one.  Aristarchus  was  a  Thessalonian 
(Acts  XX.  4),  and  so  perhaps  one  of  Paul's  early 
converts  on  his  first  journey  to  Europe.  His  purely 
Gentile  name  would  not  have  led  us  to  expect  him 
to  be  a  Jew.  But  we  have  many  similar  instances  in 
the  New  Testament,  such  for  instance,  as  the  names 
of  six  of  the  seven  deacons  (Acts  vii.  5),  which  show 
that  the  Jews  of  "the  dispersion,"  who  resided  in 
foreign  countries,  often  bore  no  trace  of  their 
nationality  in  their  names.  He  was  with  Paul  in 
Ephesus  at  the  time  of  the  riot,  and  was  one  of  the 
two  whom  the  excited  mob,  in  their  zeal  for  trade 
and  religion,  dragged  into  the  theatre,  to  the  peril 
of  their  lives.  We  next  find  him  like  Tychicus,  a 
member  of  the  deputation  which  joined  Paul  on  his 
voyage  to  Jerusalem.  Whatever  was  the  case  with 
the  other,  Aristarchus  was  in  Palestine  with  Paul, 
for  we  learn  that  he  sailed  with  him  thence  (Acts 
xxvii.  2).  Whether  he  kept  company  with  Paul 
during  all  the  jourrey  we  do  not  know.     But  more 


388  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 

probably  he  went  home  to  Thessalonica,  and  after- 
wards rejoined  Paul  at  some  point  in  his  Roman 
captivity.  At  any  rate  here  he  is,  standing  by  Paul, 
having  drunk  in  his  spirit,  and  enthusiastically 
devoted  to  him  and  his  work. 

He  receives  here  a  remarkable  and  honourable 
title,  "  my  fellow-prisoner."  I  suppose  that  it  is  to 
be  taken  literally,  and  that  Aristarchus  was,  in  some 
way,  at  the  moment  of  writing,  sharing  Paul's 
imprisonment.  Now  it  has  been  often  noticed  that, 
in  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  where  almost  all  these 
names  re-appear,  it  is  not  Aristarchus,  but  Epaphras, 
who  is  honoured  with  this  epithet ;  and  that 
interchange  has  been  explained  by  an  ingenious 
supposition  that  Paul's  friends  took  it  in  turn  to 
keep  him  company,  and  were  allowed  to  live  with 
him,  on  condition  of  submitting  to  the  same 
restrictions,  military  guardianship,  and  so  on.  There 
is  no  positive  evidence  in  favour  of  this,  but  it  is 
not  improbable,  and,  if  accepted,  helps  to  give  an 
interesting  glimpse  of  Paul's  prison  life,  and  of  the 
loyal  devotion  which  surrounded  him. 

Mark  comes  next.  His  story  is  well  known — 
how  twelve  years  before,  he  had  joined  the  first 
missionary  band  from  Antioch,  of  which  his  cousin 
Barnabas  was  the  leader,  and  had  done  well  enough 
as  long  as  they  were  on  known  ground,  in  Barnabas' 
(and  perhaps  his  own)  native  island  of  Cyprus,  but 
had  lost  heart  and  run  home  to  his  mother  as  soon 
as  they  crossed  into  Asia  Minor.  He  had  long  ago 
effaced  the  distrust  of  him  which  Paul  naturally 
conceived  on  account  of  this  collapse.  How  he 
came  to  be  with  Paul  at  Rome  is  unknown.  It  has 
been  conjectured  that  Barnabas  was  dead,  and  that 


Col.  iv.  10-14.]  SALUTATIONS,  3S9 

SO,  Mark  was  free  to  join  the  Apostle  ;  but  that  is 
unsupported  supposition.  Apparently  he  is  now- 
purposing  a  journey  to  Asia  Minor,  in  the  course  of 
which,  if  he  should  come  to  Colossae  (which  was 
doubtful,  perhaps  on  account  of  its  insignificance), 
Paul  repeats  his  previous  injunction,  that  the  church 
should  give  him  a  cordial  welcome.  Probably  this 
commendation  was  given  because  the  evil  odour  of 
his  old  fault  might  still  hang  about  his  name.  The 
calculated  emphasis  of  the  exhortation,  "  receive 
him,"  seems  to  show  that  there  was  some  reluctance 
to  give  him  a  hearty  reception  and  take  him  to 
their  hearts.  So  we  have  an  "  undesigned  coin- 
cidence." The  tone  of  the  injunction  here  is 
naturally  explained  by  the  story  in  the  Acts. 

So  faithful  a  friend  did  he  prove,  that  the  lonely 
old  man,  fronting  death,  longed  to  have  his  affec- 
tionate tending  once  more  ;  and  his  last  word  about 
him,  "  Take  Pvlark,  and  bring  him  with  thee,  for  he 
is  profitable  to  me  for  the  ministry!*  condones  the 
early  fault,  and  restores  him  to  the  office  which,  in  a 
moment  of  selfish  weakness,  he  had  abandoned.  So 
it  is  possible  to  efface  a  faultful  past,  and  to  acquire 
strength  and  fitness  for  work,  to  which  we  are  by 
nature  most  inapt  and  indisposed.  Mark  is  an 
instance  of  early  faults  nobly  atoned  for,  and  a 
witness  of  the  power  of  repentance  and  faith  to 
overcome  natural  weakness.  Many  a  ragged  colt 
makes  a  noble  horse. 

The  third  man  is  utterly  unknown — "  Jesus,  which 
is  called  Justus."  How  startling  to  come  across 
that  name,  borne  by  this  obscure  Christian  !  How 
it  helps  us  to  feel  the  humble  manhood  of  Christ, 
by  showing  us  that  many  another  Jewish  boy  bore 


390  •  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS, 

the  same  name  ;  common  and  undistinguished  then, 
though  too  holy  to  be  given  to  any  since.  His  sur- 
name Justus  may,  perhaps,  like  the  same  name  given 
to  James,  the  first  bishop  of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem, 
hint  his  rigorous  adherence  to  Judaism,  and  so  may 
indicate  that,  like  Paul  himself,  he  came  from  the 
straitest  sect  of  their  religion  into  the  large  liberty 
in  which  he  now  rejoiced. 

He  seems  to  have  been  of  no  importance  in  the 
Church,  for  his  name  is  the  only  one  in  this  context 
which  does  not  reappear  in  Philemon,  and  we  never 
hear  of  him  again.  A  strange  fate  his  !  to  be  made 
immortal  by  three  words — and  because  he  wanted 
to  send  a  loving  message  to  the  Church  at  Colossae ! 
Why,  men  have  striven  and  schemed,  and  broken 
their  hearts,  and  flung  away  their  lives,  to  grasp  the 
bubble  of  posthumous  fame ;  and  how  easily  this 
good  "  Jesus  which  is  called  Justus "  has  got  it  ! 
He  has  his  name  written  for  ever  on  the  world's 
memory,  and  he  very  likely  never  knew  it,  and  does 
not  know  it,  and  was  never  a  bit  the  better  for  it ! 
What  a  satire  on  "  the  last  infirmity  of  noble  minds  !  " 

These  three  men  are  united  in  this  salutation, 
because  they  are  all  three,  "  of  the  circumcision  ; " 
that  is  to  say,  are  Jews,  and  being  so,  have  separated 
themselves  from  all  the  other  Jewish  Christians  in 
Rome,  and  have  flung  themselves  with  ardour  into 
Paul's  missionary  work  among  the  Gentiles,  and 
have  been  his  fellow-workers  for  the  advancement  of 
the  kingdom — aiding  him,  that  is,  in  seeking  to  win 
willing  subjects  to  the  loving,  kingly  will  of  God. 
By  this  co-operation  in  the  aim  of  his  life,  they  have 
been  a  "  comfort "  to  him.  He  uses  a  half  medical 
term,  which  perhaps  he  had  caught  from  the  phy- 


Col.  iv.  IO-I4.]  SALUTATIONS.  391 

sician  at  his  elbow,  which  we  might  perhaps  parallel 
by  saying  they  had  been  a  "  cordial "  to  him — like  a 
refreshing  draught  to  a  weary  man,  or  some  whiff  of 
pure  air  stealing  into  a  close  chamber  and  lifting  the 
damp  curls  on  some  hot  brow. 

Now  these  three  men,  the  only  three  Jewish 
Christians  in  Rome  who  had  the  least  sympathy 
with  Paul  and  his  work,  give  us,  in  their  isolation,  a 
vivid  illustration  of  the  antagonism  which  he  had  to 
face  from  that  portion  of  the  early  Church.  The 
great  question  for  the  first  generation  of  Christians 
was,  not  whether  Gentiles  might  enter  the  Christian 
community,  but  whether  they  must  do  so  by  circum- 
cision, and  pass  through  Judaism  on  their  road  to 
Christianity.  The  bulk  of  the  Palestinian  Jewish 
Christians  naturally  held  that  they  must ;  while  the 
bulk  of  Jewish  Christians  who  had  been  born  in 
other  countries  as  naturally  held  that  they  need  not 
As  the  champion  of  this  latter  decision,  Paul  was 
worried  and  counter-worked  and  hindered  all  his  life 
by  the  other  party.  They  had  no  missionary  zeal, 
or  next  to  none,  but  they  followed  in  his  wake  and 
made  mischief  wherever  they  could.  If  we  can 
fancy  some  modern  sect  that  sends  out  no  mis- 
sionaries of  its  own,  but  delights  to  come  in  where 
better  men  have  forced  a  passage,  and  to  upset  their 
work  by  preaching  its  own  crotchets,  we  get  precisely 
the  kind  of  thing  which  dogged  Paul  all  his  life. 

There  was  evidently  a  considerable  body  of  these 
men  in  Rome ;  good  men  no  doubt  in  a  fashion, 
believing  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  but  unable  to 
comprehend  that  he  had  antiquated  Moses,  as  the 
dawning  day  makes  useless  the  light  in  a  dark  place. 
Even    when    he   was    a    prisoner,   their  unrelenting 


392  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE   COLOSSIANS. 

antagonism  pursued  the  Apostle.  They  preached 
Christ  of  "  envy  and  strife."  Not  one  of  them  lifted 
a  finger  to  help  him,  or  spoke  a  word  to  cheer  him. 
With  none  of  them  to  say,  God  bless  him  !  he  toiled 
on.  Only  these  three  were  large-hearted  enough  to 
take  their  stand  by  his  side,  and  by  this  greeting  to 
clasp  the  hands  of  their  Gentile  brethren  in  Colossae 
and  thereby  to  endorse  the  teaching  of  this  letter  as 
to  the  abrogation  of  Jewish  rites. 

It  was  a  brave  thing  to  do,  and  the  exuberance 
of  the  eulogium  shows  how  keenly  Paul  felt  his 
countrymen's  coldness,  and  how  grateful  he  was  to 
"the  dauntless  three."  Only  those  who  have  lived 
in  an  atmosphere  of  misconstruction,  surrounded  by 
scowls  and  sneers,  can  understand  what  a  cordial  the 
clasp  of  a  hand,  or  the  word  of  sympathy  is.  These 
men  were  like  the  old  soldier  that  stood  on  the 
street  of  Worms,  as  Luther  passed  in  to  the  Diet, 
and  clapped  him  on  the  shoulder,  with  "Little  monk! 
little  monk !  you  are  about  to  make  a  nobler  stand 
to-day  than  we  in  all  our  battles  have  ever  done.  If 
your  cause  is  just,  and  you  are  sure  of  it,  go  forward 
in  God's  name,  and  fear  nothing."  If  we  can  do  no 
more,  we  can  give  some  one  who  is  doing  more  a 
cup  of  cold  water,  by  our  sympathy  and  taking  our 
place  at  his  side,  and  so  can  be  fellow-workers  to  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

We  note,  too,  that  the  best  comfort  Paul  could 
have  was  help  in  his  work.  He  did  not  go  about 
the  world  whimpering  for  sympathy.  He  was  much 
too  strong  a  man  for  that.  He  wanted  men  to  come 
down  into  the  trench  with  him,  and  to  shovel  and 
wheel  there  till  they  had  made  in  the  wilderness 
some  kind  of  a  highway  for  the  King.       The  true 


Col.  iv.  10- 14.  ]  SAL  UTA  TIONS.  393 

cordial  for  a  true  worker  is  that  others  get  into  the 
traces  and  pull  by  his  side. 

But  we  may  further  look  at  these  men  as  repre- 
senting for  us  progressive  as  opposed  to  reactionary, 
and  spiritual  as  opposed  to  ceremonial  Christianity. 
Jewish  Christians  looked  backwards  ;  Paul  and  his 
three  sympathisers  looked  forward.  There  was 
much  excuse  for  the  former.  No  wonder  that  they 
shrank  from  the  idea  that  things  divinely  appointed 
could  be  laid  aside.  Now  there  is  a  broad  distinction 
between  the  divine  in  Christianity  and  the  divine  in 
Judaism.  For  Jesus  Christ  is  God's  last  word,  and 
abides  for  ever.  His  divinity,  His  perfect  sacrifice, 
His  present  life  in  glory  for  us.  His  life  within  us, 
these  and  their  related  truths  are  the  perennial 
possession  of  the  Church.  To  Him  we  must  look 
back,  and  every  generation  till  the  end  of  time  will 
have  to  look  back,  as  the  full  and  final  expression 
of  the  wisdom  and  will  and  mercy  of  God.  "  Last 
of  all  He  sent  unto  them  His  Son." 

That  being  distinctly  understood,  we  need  not 
hesitate  to  recognise  the  transitory  nature  of  much 
of  the  embodiment  of  the  eternal  truth  concern- 
ing the  eternal  Christ.  To  draw  the  line  accu- 
rately between  the  permanent  and  the  transient 
would  be  to  anticipate  history  and  read  the  future. 
But  the  clear  recognition  of  the  distinction  between 
the  Divine  revelation  and  the  vessels  in  which  it 
is  contained,  between  Christ  and  creed,  between 
Churches,  forms  of  worship,  formularies  of  faith  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  everlasting  word  of  God 
spoken  to  us  once  for  all  in  His  Son,  and  recorded 
in  Scripture,  on  the  other,  is  needful  at  all  times, 
and  especially  at  such  times  of  sifting  and  unsettle- 


394  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS, 

ment  as  the  present.  It  will  save  some  of  us  from 
an  obstinate  conservatism  which  might  read  its  fate 
in  the  decline  and  disappearance  of  Jewish  Chris- 
tianity. It  will  save  us  equally  from  needless  fears, 
as  if  the  stars  were  going  out,  when  it  is  only  men- 
made  lamps  that  are  paling.  Men's  hearts  often 
tremble  for  the  ark  of  God,  when  the  only  things  in 
peril  are  the  cart  that  carries  it,  or  the  oxen  that 
draw  it.  "  We  have  received  a  kingdom  that  cannot 
be  moved,"  because  we  have  received  a  King  eternal, 
and  therefore  may  calmly  see  the  removal  of  things 
that  can  be  shaken,  assured  that  the  things  which 
cannot  be  shaken  will  but  the  more  conspicuously 
assert  their  permanence.  The  existing  embodiments 
of  God's  truth  are  not  the  highest,  and  if  Churches 
and  forms  crumble  and  disintegrate,  their  disappear- 
ance will  not  be  the  abolition  of  Christianity,  but  its 
progress.  These  Jewish  Christians  would  have  found 
all  that  they  strove  to  keep,  in  higher  form  and  more 
real  reality,  in  Christ ;  and  what  seemed  to  them 
the  destruction  of  Judaism  was  really  its  coronation 
with  undying  life. 

II.  Epaphras  is  for  us  the  type  of  the  highest 
service  which  love  can  render. 

All  our  knowledge  of  Epaphras  is  contained  in 
these  brief  notices  in  this  Epistle.  We  learn  from 
the  first  chapter  that  he  had  introduced  the  gospel 
to  Colossae,  and  perhaps  also  to  Laodicea  and 
Hierapolis.  He  was  "  one  of  you,"  a  member  of  the 
Colossian  community,  and  a  resident  in,  possibly  a 
native  of,  Colossae.  He  had  come  to  Rome,  ap- 
parently to  consult  the  Apostle  about  the  views 
which  threatened  to  disturb  the  Church.  He  had 
told  him,  too,  of  their  love,  not  painting  the  picture 


Col.  iv.  10-14.]  SALUTATIONS.  395 

too  black,  and  gladly  giving  full  prominence  to  any 
bits  of  brightness.  It  was  his  report  which  led  to 
the  writing  of  this  letter. 

Perhaps  some  of  the  Colossians  were  not  over 
pleased  with  his  having  gone  to  speak  with  Paul, 
and  having  brought  down  this  thunderbolt  on  their 
heads ;  and  such  a  feeling  may  account  for  the 
warmth  of  Paul's  praises  of  him  as  his  "fellow- 
slave,"  and  for  the  emphasis  of  his  testimony  on  his 
behalf.  However  they  might  doubt  it,  Epaphras' 
love  for  them  was  warm.  It  showed  itself  by 
continual  fervent  prayers  that  they  might  stand 
"perfect  and  fully  persuaded  in  all  the  will  of  God," 
and  by  toil  of  body  and  mind  for  them.  We  can 
see  the  anxious  Epaphras,  far  away  from  the  Church 
of  his  solicitude,  always  burdened  with  the  thought 
of  their  danger,  and  ever  wrestling  in  prayer  on  their 
behalf. 

So  we  may  learn  the  noblest  service  which 
Christian  love  can  do — prayer.  There  is  a  real 
power  in  Christian  intercession.  There  are  many 
difficulties  and  mysteries  round  that  thought.  The 
manner  of  the  blessing  is  not  revealed,  but  the  fact 
that  we  help  one  another  by  prayer  is  plainly 
taught,  and  confirmed  by  many  examples,  from  the 
day  when  God  heard  Abraham  and  delivered  Lot, 
to  the  hour  when  the  loving  authoritative  words 
were  spoken,  "  Simon,  Simon,  I  have  prayed  for  thee 
that  thy  faith  fail  not."  A  spoonful  of  water  sets 
a  hydraulic  press  in  motion,  and  brings  into 
operation  a  fc  rce  of  tons'  weight ;  so  a  drop  of 
prayer  at  the  or.e  end  may  move  an  influence  at  the 
other  which  is  omnipotent.  It  is  a  service  which 
all  can  render.     Epaphras   could  not   have  written 


396  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE   COLOSSI ANS, 

this  letter,  but  he  could  pray.  Love  has  no  higher 
way  of  utterance  than  prayer.  A  prayerless  love 
may  be  very  tender,  and  may  speak  murmured 
words  of  sweetest  sound,  but  it  lacks  the  deepest 
expressioH,  and  the  noblest  music  of  speech.  We 
never  help  our  dear  ones  so  well  as  when  we  pray 
for  them.  Do  we  thus  show  and  consecrate  our 
family  loves  and  our  friendships  } 

We  notice  too  the  kind  of  prayer  which  love 
naturally  presents.  It  is  constant  and  earnest — - 
"always  striving,"  or  as  the  word  might  be  rendered, 
"  agonizing."  That  word  suggests  first  the  familiar 
metaphor  of  the  wrestling-ground.  True  prayer  is 
the  intensest  energy  of  the  spirit  pleading  for 
blessing  with  a  great  striving  of  faithful  desire.  But 
a  more  solemn  memory  gathers  round  the  word, 
for  it  can  scarcely  fail  to  recall  the  hour  beneath 
the  olives  of  Gethsemane,  when  the  clear  paschal 
moon  shone  down  on  the  suppliant  who,  "  being  in 
an  agony,  prayed  the  more  earnestly."  And  both 
Paul's  word  here,  and  the  evangelist's  there,  carry 
us  back  to  that  mysterious  scene  by  the  brook 
Jabbok,  where  Jacob  "  wrestled "  with  "  a  man " 
until  the  breaking  of  the  day,  and  prevailed.  Such 
is  prayer ;  the  wrestle  in  the  arena,  the  agony  in 
Gethsemane,  the  solitary  grapple  with  the  "  traveller 
unknown "  ;  and  such  is  the  highest  expression  of 
Christian  love. 

Here,  too,  we  learn  what  love  asks  for  its  beloved. 
Not  perishable  blessings,  not  the  prizes  of  earth — ■ 
fame,  fortune,  friends ;  but  that  "  ye  may  stand 
perfect  and  fully  assured  in  all  the  will  of  God." 
The  first  petition  is  for  stedfastness.  To  stand  has 
for  opposites — to  fall,  or  totter,  or  give  ground  ;  so 


Col.  iv.  IO-I4.]  SALUTATIONS.  397 

the  prayer  is  that  they  may  not  yield  to  temptation, 
or  opposition,  nor  waver  in  their  fixed  faith,  nor  go 
down  in  the  struggle ;  but  keep  erect,  their  feet 
planted  on  the  rock,  and  holding  their  own  against 
every  foe.  The  prayer  is  also  for  their  maturity  of 
Christian  character,  that  they  may  stand  firm, 
because  perfect,  having  attained  that  condition  which 
Paul  in  this  Epistle  tell  us  is  the  aim  of  all  preaching 
and  warning.  As  for  ourselves,  so  for  our  dear  ones, 
we  are  to  be  content  with  nothing  short  of  entire 
conformity  to  the  will  of  God.  His  merciful  purpose 
for  us  all  is  to  be  the  goal  of  our  efforts  for  our- 
selves, and  of  our  prayers  for  others.  We  are  to 
widen  our  desires  to  coincide  with  His  gift,  and  our 
prayers  are  to  cover  no  narrower  space  than  His 
promises  enclose. 

Epaphras'  last  desire  for  his  friends,  according  to 
the  true  reading,  is  that  they  may  be  "  fully  assured  " 
in  all  the  will  of  God.  There  can  be  no  higher 
blessing  than  that — to  be  quite  sure  of  what  God 
desires  me  to  know  and  do  and  be — if  the  assurance 
comes  from  the  clear  light  of  His  illumination,  and 
not  from  hasty  self-confidence  in  my  own  penetration. 
To  be  free  from  the  misery  of  intellectual  doubts 
and  practical  uncertainties,  to  walk  in  the  sunshine 
— is  the  purest  joy.  And  it  is  granted  in  needful 
measure  to  all  who  have  silenced  their  ov/n  wills, 
that  they  may  hear  what  God  says, — "  If  any  man 
wills  to  do  His  will,  he  shall  know." 

Does  our  love  speak  in  prayer  ?  and  do  our 
prayers  for  our  dear  ones  plead  chiefly  for  such  gifts  } 
Both  our  love  and  our  desires  need  purifying  if  this 
is  to  be  their  natural  language.  How  can  we  offer 
such  prayers  for  them  if,  at  the  bottom  of  our  hearts, 


398  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSS/ANS. 

we  had  rather  see  them  well  off  in  the  world  than 
stedfast,  matured  and  assured  Christians  ?  How 
can  we  expect  an  answer  to  such  prayers  if  the 
whole  current  of  our  lives  shows  that  neither  for 
them  nor  for  ourselves  do  we  "  seek  first  the  kingdom 
of  God  and  His  righteousness  "  ? 

in.  The  last  salutation  comes  from  a  singularly 
contrasted  couple — Luke  and  Demas,  the  types 
respectively  of  faithfulness  and  apostasy.  These 
two  unequally  yoked  together  stand  before  us  like 
the  light  and  the  dark  figures  that  Ary  Scheffer 
delights  to  paint,  each  bringing  out  the  colouring 
of  the  other  more  vividly  by  contrast.  They  bear 
the  same  relation  to  Paul  which  John,  the  beloved 
disciple,  and  Judas  did  to  Paul's  master. 

As  for  Luke,  his  long  and  faithful  companionship 
of  the  Apostle  is  too  well  known  to  need  repetition 
here.  His  first  appearance  in  the  Acts  nearly  coin- 
cides with  an  attack  of  Paul's  constitutional  malady, 
which  gives  probability  to  the  suggestion  that  one 
reason  for  Luke's  close  attendance  on  the  Apostle 
was  the  state  of  his  health.  Thus  the  form  and 
warmth  of  the  reference  here  would  be  explained — 
"  Luke  the  physician,  the  beloved."  We  trace  Luke 
as  sharing  the  perils  of  the  winter  voyage  to  Italy, 
making  his  presence  known  only  by  the  modest 
"  we  "  of  the  narrative.  We  find  him  here  sharing 
the  Roman  captivity,  and,  in  the  second  imprison- 
ment, he  was  Paul's  only  companion.  All  others 
had  been  sent  away,  or  had  fled  ;  but  Luke  could 
not  be  spared,  and  would  not  desert  him,  and  no 
doubt  was  by  his  side  till  the  end,  which  soon  came. 

As  for  Demas,  we  know  no  more  about  him  ex- 
cept the  melancholy  record,  "  Demas  hath  forsaken 


Col.  iv.  10-14.]  SAL  UTA  TIONS,  399 

me,  having  loved  this  present  world  ;  and  is  departed 
unto  Thessalonica."  Perhaps  he  was  a  Thessalonian, 
and  so  went  home.  His  love  of  the  world,  then, 
was  his  reason  for  abandoning  Paul.  Probably  it  was 
on  the  side  of  danger  that  the  world  tempted  him,. 
He  was  a  coward,  and  preferred  a  whole  skin  to  a 
clear  conscience.  In  immediate  connection  with  the 
record  of  his  desertion  we  read,  "  At  my  first  answer, 
no  man  stood  with  me,  but  all  men  forsook  me." 
As  the  same  word  is  used,  probably  Denias  may 
have  been  one  of  those  timid  friends,  whose  courage 
was  not  equal  to  standing  by  Paul  when,  to  use  his 
own  metaphor,  he  thrust  his  head  into  the  lion's 
mouth.  Let  us  not  be  too  hard  on  the  constancy 
that  warped  in  so  fierce  a  heat.  All  that  Paul 
charges  him  with  is,  that  he  was  a  faithless  friend, 
and  too  fond  of  the  present  world.  Perhaps  his 
crime  did  not  reach  the  darker  hue.  He  may  not 
have  been  an  apostate  Christian,  though  he  was  a 
faithless  friend.  Perhaps,  if  there  were  departure 
from  Christ  as  well  as  from  Paul,  he  came  back 
again,  like  Peter,  whose  sins  against  love  and  friend- 
ship were  greater  than  his — and,  like  Peter,  found 
pardon  and  a  welcome.  Perhaps,  away  in  Thessa- 
lonica, he  repented  him  of  his  evil,  and  perhaps  Paul 
and  Demas  met  again  before  the  throne,  and  there 
clasped  inseparable  hands.  Let  us  not  judge  a  man 
of  whom  we  know  so  little,  but  take  to  ourselves  the 
lesson  of  humility  and  self-distrust ! 

How  strikingly  these  two  contrasted  characters 
bring  out  the  possibility  of  men  being  exposed  to 
the  same  influences  and  yet  ending  far  away  from 
each  other!  These  two  set  out  from  the  ssme 
point,  and  travelled  side  by  side,  subjc  ct  to  the  same 


400  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

training,  in  contact  with  the  magnetic  attraction  of 
Paul's  strong  personality,  and  at  the  end  they  are 
wide  as  the  poles  asunder.  Starting  from  the  same 
level,  one  line  inclines  ever  so  little  upwards,  the 
other  imperceptibly  downwards.  Pursue  them  far 
enough,  and  there  is  room  for  the  whole  solar  system 
with  all  its  orbits  in  the  space  between  them.  So 
two  children  trained  at  one  mother's  knee,  subjects 
of  the  same  prayers,  with  the  same  sunshine  of  love 
and  rain'  of  good  influences  upon  them  both,  may 
grow  up,  one  to  break  a  mother's  heart  and  disgrace 
a  father's  home,  and  the  other  to  walk  in  the  ways 
of  godliness  and  serve  the  God  of  his  fathers.  Cir- 
cumstances are  mighty  ;  but  the  use  we  make  of 
circumstances  lies  with  ourselves.  As  we  trim  our 
sails  and  set  our  rudder,  the  same  breeze  will  take 
us  in  opposite  directions.  We  are  the  architect 
and  builders  of  our  own  characters,  and  may  so  use 
the  most  unfavourable  influences  as  to  strengthen 
and  wholesomely  harden  our  natures  thereby,  and 
may  so  misuse  the  most  favourable  as  only  thereby 
to  increase  our  blameworthiness  for  wasted  oppor- 
tunities. 

We  are  reminded,  also,  from  these  two  men  who 
stand  before  us  like  a  double  star — one  bright  and 
one  dark — that  no  loftiness  of  Christian  position, 
nor  length  of  Christian  profession-  is  a  guarantee 
against  falling  and  apostasy.  As  we  read  in  another 
book,  for  which  also  the  Church  has  to  thank  a 
prison  cell — the  place  where  so  many  of  its  precious 
possessions  have  been  written — there  is  a  backway 
to  the  pit  from  the  gate  of  the  Celestial  City. 
Demas  had  stood  high  in  the  Church,  had  been 
admitted  to  the  close  intimacy  of  the  Apostle,  was 


Col.  iv.  10-14.]  SALUTATIONS.  401 

evidently  no  raw  novice,  and  yet  the  world  could 
drag  him  back  from  so  eminent  a  place  in  which  he 
had  long  stood.  "  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth 
take  heed  lest  he  fall." 

The  world  that  was  too  strong  for  Demas  will  be 
too  strong  for  us  if  we  front  it  in  our  own  strength. 
It  is  ubiquitous,  working  on  us  everywhere  and 
always,  like  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on  our 
bodies.  Its  weight  will  crush  us  unless  we  can 
climb  to  and  dwell  on  the  heights  of  communion 
with  God,  where  pressure  is  diminished.  It  acted 
on  Demas  through  his  fears.  It  acts  on  us  through 
our  ambitions,  affections  and  desires.  So,  seeing  that 
miserable  wreck  of  Christian  constancy,  and  con- 
sidering ourselves  lest  we  also  be  tempted,  let  us 
not  judge  another,  but  look  at  home.  There  is  more 
than  enough  there  to  make  profound  self-distrust 
our  truest  wisdom,  and  to  teach  us  to  pray,  "  Hold 
Thou  me  up,  and  I  shall  be  safe." 


26 


XXVI. 

CLOSING  MESSAGES, 

"Salute  the  brethren  that  are  in  Laodicea,  and  Nymp')ias,  and  the 
Church  that  is  in  their  house.  And  when  this  epistle  ha':h  been  read 
among  you,  cause  tliat  it  be  read  also  in  the  Church  of  the  Laodiceans  ; 
and  that  ye  also  read  the  epistle  from  Laodicea.  And  say  to  Archippus, 
Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast  received  in  the  Lord,  that 
thou  fulfil  it.  The  salutation  of  me  Paul  with  mine  own  hand. 
Remember  my  bonds.  Grace  be  with  you." — COL.  iv.  i5-end  (Rev. 
Ver.). 

THERE  is  a  marked  love  of  triplets  in  these 
closing  messages.  There  were  three  of  the 
circumcision  who  desired  to  salute  the  Colossians  ; 
and  there  were  three  Gentiles  whose  greetings 
followed  these.  Now  we  have  a  triple  message 
from  the  Apostle  himself — his  greeting  to  Lao- 
dicea, his  message  as  to  the  interchange  of  letters 
with  that  Church,  and  his  grave,  stringent  charge 
to  Archippus.  Finally,  the  letter  closes  with  a  few 
hurried  words  in  his  own  handwriting,  which  also 
are  threefold,  and  seem  to  have  been  added  in 
extreme  haste,  and  to  be  compressed  to  the  utmost 
possible  brevity. 

I.  We  shall  first  look  at  the  threefold  greeting 
and  warnings  to  Laodicea. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  triple  message  we  have  a 
glimpse  of  the  Christian  life  of  that  city.     "  Salute 


Col.  iv.  1 5 -end.]  CLOSING  MESSAGES.  403 

the  brethren  that  are  in  Laodicea."  These  arc,  of 
course,  the  whole  body  of  Christians  in  the  neigh- 
bouring town,  which  was  a  much  more  important 
place  than  Colossse.  They  are  the  same  persons  as 
"  the  Church  of  the  Laodiceans."  Then  comes  a 
special  greeting  to  "  Nymphas,"  who  was  obviously 
a  brother  of  some  importance  and  influence  in  the 
Laodicean  Church,  though  to  us  he  has  sunk  to  be 
an  empty  name.  With  him  Paul  salutes  "  the 
Church  that  is  in  their  house  "  (Rev.  Ver.).  Whose 
house  ?  Probably  that  belonging  to  Nymphas  and 
his  family.  Perhaps  that  belonging  to  Nymphas 
and  the  Church  that  met  in  it,  if  these  were  other 
than  his  family.  The  more  difficult  expression  is 
adopted  by  preponderating  textual  authorities,  and 
"  his  house  "  is  regarded  as  a  correction  to  make  the 
sense  easier.  If  so,  then  the  expression  is  one  of 
which  in  our  ignorance  we  have  lost  the  key,  and 
which  must  be  content  to  leave  unexplained. 

But  what  was  this  "  Church  in  the  house  " }  We 
read  that  Prisca  and  Aquila  had  such  both  in  their 
house  in  Rome  (Rom.  xvi.  5)  and  in  Ephesus  (i  Cor. 
xvi.  19),  and  that  Philemon  had  such  in  his  house 
at  Colossae.  It  may  be  that  only  the  household  of 
Nymphas  is  meant,  and  that  the  words  import  no 
more  than  that  it  was  a  Christian  household  ;  or  it 
may  be,  and  more  probably  is,  that  in  all  these  cases 
there  was  some  gathering  of  a  few  of  the  Christians 
resident  in  each  city,  who  were  closely  connected 
with  the  heads  of  the  household,  and  met  in  their 
houses  more  or  less  regularly  to  worsliip  and  to 
help  one  another  in  the  Christian  life.  We  have  no 
facts  that  decide  which  of  these  two  suppositions  is 
correct.     The    early   Christians    had,  of   course    no 


404  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE   COLOSSIANS, 

buildings  especially  used  for  their  meetings,  and 
there  may  often  have  been  difficulty  in  finding  suit- 
able places,  particularly  in  cities  where  the  Church 
was  numerous.  It  may  have  been  customary, 
therefore,  for  brethren  who  had  large  and  convenient 
houses,  to  gather  together  portions  of  the  whole 
community  in  these.  In  any  case,  the  expression 
gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  primitive  elasticity  of 
Church  order,  and  of  the  early  fluidity,  so  to  speak, 
of  ecclesiastical  language.  The  word  "  Church " 
has  not  yet  been  hardened  and  fixed  to  its  present 
technical  sense.  There  was  but  one  Church  in 
Laodicea,  and  yet  within  it  there  was  this  little 
Church — an  impermin  in  imperio — as  if  the  word 
had  not  yet  come  to  mean  more  than  an  assembly, 
and  as  if  all  arrangements  of  order  and  worship,  and 
all  the  terminology  of  later  days,  were  undreamed  of 
yet.  The  life  was  there,  but  the  forms  which  were 
to  grow  out  of  the  life,  and  to  protect  it  sometimes, 
and  to  stifle  it  often,  were  only  beginning  to  show 
themselves,  and  were  certainly  not  yet  felt  to  be 
forms. 

We  may  note,  too,  the  beautiful  glimpse  we  get 
here  of  domestic  and   social  religion. 

If  the  Church  in  the  house  of  Nymphas  consisted 
of  his  own  family  and  dependants,  it  stands  for  us 
as  a  lesson  of  what  every  family,  which  has  a  Chris- 
tian man  or  woman  at  its  head,  ought  to  be.  Little 
knowledge  of  the  ordering  of  so-called  Christian 
households  is  needed  to  be  sure  that  domestic  re- 
ligion is  wofully  neglected  to-day.  Family  worship 
and  family  instruction  are  disused,  one  fears,  in 
many  homes,  the  heads  of  which  can  remember  both 
in    their  father's  houses ;  and  the  unspoken  aroma 


Col.  iv.  15-end.]  CLOSING  MESSAGES,  405 

and  atmosphere  of  religion  does  not  fill  the  house 
with  its  odour,  as  it  ought  to  do.  If  a  Christian 
householder  have  not  "  a  Church  in  his  house,"  the 
family  union  is  tending  to  become  "  a  synagogue  of 
Satan."  One  or  other  it  is  sure  to  be.  It  is  a 
solemn  question  for  all  parents  and  heads  of  house- 
holds, What  am  I  doing  to  make  my  house  a  Church, 
my  family  a  family  united  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  .^ 

A  like  suggestion  may  be  made  if,  as  is  possible, 
the  Church  in  the  house  of  Nymphas  included  more 
than  relatives  and  dependants.  It  is  a  miserable  thing 
when  social  intercourse  plays  freely  round  every 
other  subject,  and  taboos  all  mention  of  religion. 
It  is  a  miserable  thing  when  Christian  people  choose 
and  cultivate  society  for  worldly  advantages,  business 
connections,  family  advancement,  and  for  every 
reason  under  heaven — sometimes  a  long  way  under — 
except  those  of  a  common  faith,  and  of  the  desire  to 
increase  it. 

It  is  not  needful  to  lay  down  extravagant,  im- 
practicable restrictions,  by  insisting  either  that  we 
should  limit  our  society  to  religious  men,  or  our 
conversation  to  religious  subjects.  But  it  is  a  bad 
sign  when  our  chosen  associates  are  chosen  for  every 
other  reason  but  their  religion,  and  when  our  talk 
flows  copiously  on  all  other  subjects,  and  becomes 
a  constrained  driblet  when  religion  comes  to  be 
spoken  of.  Let  us  try  to  carry  about  with  us  an 
influence  which  shall  permeate  all  our  social  inter- 
course, and  make  it,  if  not  directly  religious,  yet 
never  antagonistic  to  religion,  and  always  capable  of 
passing  easily  and  naturally  into  the  highest  regions. 
Our  godly  forefathers  used  to  carve  texts  over  their 
house  doors.     Let  us  do  the  same  in  another  fashion, 


4o6  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   COLOSSIAKS. 

SO  that  all  who  cross  the  threshold  may  feel  that 
they  have  come  into  a  Christian  household,  where 
cheerful  godliness  sweetens  and  brightens  the  sancti- 
ties of  home. 

We  have  next  a  remarkable  direction  as  to  the 
interchange  of  Paul's  letters  to  Colossse  and  Lao- 
dicea.  The  present  Epistle  is  to  be  sent  over  to 
the  neighbouring  Church  of  Laodicea — that  is  quite 
clear.  But  what  is  "  the  Epistle  from  Laodicea " 
which  the  Colossians  are  to  be  sure  to  get  and  to  read  > 
The  connection  forbids  us  to  suppose  that  a  letter 
written  by  the  Laodicean  Church  is  meant.  Both 
letters  are  plainly  Pauline  epistles,  and  the  latter  is 
said  to  be  "  from  Laodicea,"  simply  because  the 
Colossians  were  to  procure  it  from  that  place.  The 
"  from  "  does  not  imply  authorship,  but  transmission. 
What  then  has  become  of  this  letter  ?  Is  it  lost } 
So  say  some  commentators  ;  but  a  more  probable 
opinion  is  that  it  is  no  other  than  the  Epistle  which 
we  know  as  that  to  the  Ephesians.  This  is  not  the 
occasion  to  enter  on  a  discussion  of  that  view.  It 
will  be  enough  to  notice  that  very  weighty  textual 
authorities  omit  the  words  "  In  Ephesus,"  in  the  first 
verse  of  that  Epistle.  The  conjecture  is  a  very 
reasonable  one,  that  the  letter  was  intended  for  a 
circle  of  Churches,  and  had  originally  no  place  named 
in  the  superscription,  just  as  we  might  issue  circulars 

"  To  the   Church  in  ,"  leaving  a  blank  to  be 

filled  in  with  different  names.  This  conjecture  is 
strengthened  by  the  marked  absence  of  personal 
references  in  the  letter,  which  in  that  respect  forms 
a  striking  contrast  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians, 
which  it  so  strongly  resembles  in  other  particulars. 
Probably,  therefore,  Tychicus    had  both  letters  put 


Col.  iv.  15-encl.]  CLOSING  MESSAGES.  407 

into  his  hands  for  delivery.  The  circular  would  go 
first  to  Ephesus  as  the  most  important  Church  in 
Asia,  and  thence  would  be  carried  by  him  to  one 
community 'after  another,  till  he  reached  Laodicea, 
from  which  he  would  come  further  up  the  valley 
to  Colossae,  bringing  both  letters  with  him.  The 
Colossians  are  not  told  X.q>  get  the  letter  from  Laodicea, 
but  to  be  sure  that  they  read  it.  Tychicus  would 
see  that  it  came  to  them  ;  their  business  was  to 
see  that  they  marked,  learned,  and  inwardly  digested 
it. 

The  urgency  of  these  instructions  that  Paul's 
letters  should  be  read,  reminds  us  of  a  similar  but 
still  more  stringent  injunction  in  his  earliest  epistle 
(i  Thess.  V.  27),  "  I  charge  you  by  the  Lord  that 
this  epistle  be  read  unto  all  the  holy  brethren."  Is 
it  possible  that  these  Churches  did  not  much  care 
for  Paul's  words,  and  were  more  willing  to 
admit  that  they  were  weighty  and  powerful,  than  to 
study  them  and  lay  them  to  heart  ?  It  looks  almost 
like  it.  Perhaps  they  got  the  same  treatment  then 
as  they  often  do  now,  and  were  more  praised  than 
read,  even  by  those  who  professed  to  look  upon  him 
as  their  teacher  in  Christ ! 

But  passing  by  that,  we  come  to  the  last  part  of 
this  threefold  message,  the  solemn  warning  to  a 
slothful  servant. 

"  Say  to  Archippus,  Take  heed  to  the  ministry 
which  thou  hast  received  in  the  Lord,  that  thou  fulfil 
it,"  A  sharp  message  that — and  especially  sharp, 
as  being  sent  through  others,  and  not  spoken  directly 
to  the  man  himself  If  this  Archippus  were  a 
member  of  the  Church  at  Colossae,  it  is  remarkable 
that  Paul  should  not  have  spoken  to  him  directly,  as 


4o8  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI  A  NS. 


he  did  to  Euodia  and  Syntyche,  the  two  good  women 
at  Philippi,  who  had  fallen  out.  But  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  he  was.  We  find  him  named 
again,  indeed,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Epistle  to 
Philemon,  in  such  immediate  connection  with  the 
latter,  and  with  his  wife  Apphia,  that  he  has  been 
supposed  to  be  their  son.  At  all  events,  he  was 
intimately  associated  with  the  Church  in  the  house 
of  Philemon,  who,  as  we  know,  was  a  Colossian. 
The  conclusion,  therefore,  seems  at  first  sight  most 
natural  that  Archippus  too  belonged  to  the  Colossian 
Church.  But  on  the  other  hand  the  difficulty 
already  referred  to  seems  to  point  in  another  direc- 
tion ;  and  if  it  be  further  remembered  that  this 
whole  section  is  concerned  with  the  Church  at 
Laodicea,  it  will  be  seen  to  be  a  likely  conclusion 
from  all  the  facts  that  Archippus,  though  perhaps  a 
native  of  Colossae,  or  even  a  resident  there,  had  his 
"  ministry  "  in  connection  with  that  other  neighbouring 
Church. 

It  may  be  worth  notice,  in  passing,  that  all  these 
messages  to  Laodicea  occurring  here,  strongly 
favour  the  supposition  that  the  epistle  from  that 
place  cannot  have  been  a  letter  especially  meant  for 
the  Laodicean  church,  as,  if  it  had  been,  these  would 
have  naturally  been  inserted  in  it.  So  far,  therefore, 
they  confirm  the  hypothesis  that  it  was  a  circular. 

Some  may  say,  Well,  what  in  the  world  does  it 
matter  where  Archippus  worked  }  Not  very  much 
perhaps  ;  and  yet  one  cannot  but  read  this  grave 
exhortation  to  a  man  who  was  evidently  getting 
languid  and  negligent,  without  remembering  what 
we  hear  about  Laodicea  and  the  angel  of  the  Church 
there,  when  next  we  meet  it  in  the  page  of  Scripture. 


Col.  iv.  15-eiid.]  CLOSING  MESSAGES.  409 

It  is  not  impossible  that  Archippus  was  that  very 
"  angel,"  to  whom  the  Lord  Himself  sent  the  message 
through  His  servant  John,  more  awful  than  that 
which  Paul  had  sent  through  his  brethren  at 
Colossae,  "  Because  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I 
will  spue  thee  out  of  My  mouth." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  message  is  for  us  all. 
Each  of  us  has  a  "  ministry,"  a  sphere  of  service. 
We  may  either  fill  it  full,  with  earnest  devotion  and 
patient  heroism,  as  some  expanding  gas  fills  out  the 
silken  round  of  its  containing  vessel,  or  we  may 
breathe  into  it  only  enough  to  occupy  a  little  portion, 
while  all  the  rest  hangs  empty  and  flaccid.  We 
have  to  "  fulfil  our  ministry." 

A  sacred  motive  enhances  the  obligation — we 
have  received  it  "  in  the  Lord."  In  union  with  Him 
it  has  been  laid  on  us.  No  human  hand  has  im- 
posed it,  nor  does  it  arise  merely  from  earthly  rela- 
tionships, but  our  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ,  and 
incorporation  into  the  true  Vine,  has  laid  on  us  re- 
sponsibilities, and  exalted  us  by  service. 

There  must  be  diligent  watchfulness  in  order  to 
fulfil  our  ministry.  We  must  take  heed  to  our 
service,  and  we  must  take  heed  to  ourselves.  We 
have  to  reflect  upon  it,  its  extent,  nature,  imperative- 
ness, upon  the  manner  of  discharging  it,  and  the 
means  of  fitness  for  it.  We  have  to  keep  our  work 
ever  before  us.  Unless  we  are  absorbed  in  it,  we 
shall  not  fulfil  it.  And  we  have  to  take  heed  to 
ourselves,  ever  feeling  our  weakness  and  the  strong 
antagonisms  in  our  own  natures  which  hinder  our 
discharge  of  the  plainest,  most  imperative  duties. 

And  let  us  remember,  too,  that  if  once  we  begin, 
like  Archippus,  to  be  a  little  languid  and  perfunctory 


4IO  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSIANS, 

in  our  work,  we  may  end  where  the  Church  of 
Laodicea  ended,  whether  he  were  its  angel  or  no, 
with  that  nauseous  lukewarmness  which  sickens 
even  Christ's  longsuffering  love,  and  forces  Him  to 
reject  it  with  loathing. 

II.  And  now  we  come  to  the  end  of  our  task, 
and  hav\i  to  consider  the  hasty  last  words  in  Paul's 
own  hand. 

We  can  see  him  taking  the  reed  from  the  amanu- 
ensis and  adding  the  three  brief  sentences  which  close 
the  letter.  He  first  writes  that  which  is  equivalent 
to  our  modern  usage  of  signing  the  letter — "the 
salutation  of  me  Paul  with  mine  own  hand."  This 
appears  to  have  been  his  usual  practice,  or,  as  he 
says  in  2  Thess.  (iii.  17),  it  was  "his  token  in  every 
epistle" — the  evidence  that  each  was  the  genuine 
expression  of  his  mind.  Probably  his  weak  eyesight, 
which  appears  certain,  may  have  had  something 
to  do  with  his  employing  a  secretary,  as  we  may 
assume  him  to  have  done,  even  when  there  is  no 
express  mention  of  his  autograph  in  the  closing 
salutations.  We  find  for  example  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans  no  words  corresponding  to  these,  but 
the  modest  amanuensis  steps  for  a  moment  into  the 
light  near  the  end :  "  I  Tertius,  who  write  the 
epistle,  salute  you  in  the  Lord." 

The  endorsement  with  his  name  is  followed  by  a 
request  singularly  pathetic  in  its  abrupt  brevity, 
"  Remember  my  bonds."  This  is  the  one  personal 
reference  in  the  letter,  unless  we  add  as  a  second, 
his  request  for  their  prayers  that  he  may  speak  the 
mystery  of  Christ,  for  which  he  is  in  bonds.  There 
is  a  striking  contrast  in  this  respect  with  the  abun- 
dant allusions  ;0  his  circumstances  in  the  Epistle  to 


Col.  i\    15-end.]  CLOSING  MESSAGES.  4H 

the  Philippians,  which  also  belongs  to  the  period  of 
his  captivity.  He  had  been  swept  far  away  from 
thoughts  of  self  by  the  enthusiasm  of  his  subject. 
The  vision  that  opened  before  him  of  his  Lord  in 
His  glory,  the  Lord  of  Creation,  the  Head  of  the 
Church,  the  throned  helper  of  every  trusting  soul, 
had  flooded  his  chamber  with  light,  and  swept 
guards  and  chains  and  restrictions  out  of  his  con- 
sciousness. But  now  the  spell  is  broken,  and  com- 
mon things  re-assert  their  power.  He  stretches  out 
his  hand  for  the  reed  to  write  his  last  words,  and 
as  he  does  so,  the  chain  which  fastens  him  to  the 
Praetorian  guard  at  his  side  pulls  and  hinders  him. 
He  wakes  to  the  consciousness  of  his  prison.  The 
seer,  swept  along  by  the  storm  wind  of  a  Divine 
inspiration,  is  gone.  The  weak  man  remains.  The 
exhaustion  after  such  an  hour  of  high  communion 
makes  him  more  than  usually  dependent ;  and  all 
his  subtle  profound  teachings,  all  his  thunderings 
and  lightnings,  end  in  the  simple  cry,  which  goes 
straight  to  the  heart :  "  Remember  my  bonds." 

He  wished  their  remembrance  because  he  needed 
their  sympathy.  Like  the  old  rags  put  round  the 
ropes  by  which  the  prophet  was  hauled  out  of  his 
dungeon,  the  poorest  bit  of  sympathy  twisted  round 
a  fetter  makes  it  chafe  less.  The  petition  helps  us 
to  conceive  how  heavy  a  trial  Paul  felt  his  imprison- 
ment, to  be  little  as  he  said  about  it,  and  bravely  as  he 
bore  it.  He  wished  their  remembrance  too,  because 
his  bonds  added  weight  to  his  words.  His  suffer- 
ings gave  him  a  right  to  speak.  In  times  of 
persecution  confessors  are  the  highest  teachers,  and 
the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus  borne  in  a  man's  body 
give   more    authorit}'   than    diplomas    and   learning. 


412  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   COLOSSI ANS. 

He  wished  their  remembrance  because  his  bonds 
might  encourage  them  to  steadfast  endurance  if  need 
for  it  should  arise.  He  points  to  his  own  sufferings, 
and  would  have  them  take  heart  to  bear  their 
lighter  crosses  and  to  fight  their  easier  battle. 

One  cannot  but  recall  the  words  of  Paul's  Master, 
so  like  these  in  sound,  so  unlike  them  in  deepest 
meaning.  Can  there  be  a  greater  contrast  than  be- 
tween "  Remember  my  bonds,"  the  plaintive  appeal  of  a 
weak  m.an  seeking  sympathy,  coming  as  an  appendix, 
quite  apart  from  the  subject  of  the  letter,  and  "  Do 
this  in  remembrance  of  Me,"  the  royal  words  of  the 
Master }  Why  is  the  memory  of  Christ's  death  so 
unlike  the  memory  of  Paul's  chains  }  Why  is  the 
one  merely  for  the  play  of  sympathy,  and  the 
enforcement  of  his  teaching,  and  the  other  the  very 
centre  of  our  religion }  For  one  reason  alone. 
Because  Christ's  death  is  the  life  of  the  world,  and 
Paul's  sufferings,  whatever  their  worth,  had  nothing 
in  them  that  bore,  except  indirectly,  on  man's  re- 
demption. *'  Was  Paul  crucified  for  you  t "  We 
remember  his  chains,  and  they  give  him  sacredness 
in  our  eyes.  But  we  remember  the  bfoken  body 
and  shed  blood  of  our  Lord,  and  cleave  to  it  in  faith 
as  the  one  sacrifice  for  the  world's  sin. 

And  then  comes  the  last  word  :  "  Grace  be  with 
you."  The  apostolic  benediction,  with  which  he 
closes  all  his  letters,  occurs  in  many  different  stages 
of  expression.  Here  it  is  pared  down  to  the  very 
quick.  No  shorter  form  is  possible — and  yet  even 
in  this  condition  of  extreme  compression,  all  good 
is  in  it. 

All  possible  blessing  is  wrapped  up  in  that  one 
word,  Grace.     Like  the  sunshine,  it  carries  life  and 


Col.  iv.  iS-end.]  CLOSING  MESSAGES.  413 

fruitfulness  in  itself.  If  the  favour  and  kindness  of 
God,  flowing  out  to  men  so  far  beneath  Him,  who 
deserve  such  different  treatment,  be  ours,  then  in  our 
hearts  will  be  rest  and  a  great  peacefulness,  what- 
ever may  be  about  us,  and  in  our  characters  will  be 
all  beauties  and  capacities,  in  the  measure  of  our 
possession  of  that  grace. 

That  all-productive  germ  of  joy  and  excellence  is 
here  parted  among  the  whole  body  of  Colossian 
Christians.  The  dew  of  this  benediction  falls  upon 
them  all — the  teachers  of  error  if  they  still  held  by 
Christ,  the  Judaisers,  the  slothful  Archippus,  even 
as  the  grace  which  it  invokes  will  pour  itself  into 
imperfect  natures  and  adorn  very  sinful  characters, 
if  beneath  the  imperfection  and  the  evil  there  be  the 
true  affiance  of  the  soul  on  Christ. 

That  communication  of  grace  to  a  sinful  world  is 
the  end  of  all  God's  deeds,  as  it  is  the  end  of  this 
letter.  That  great  revelation  which  began  when 
man  began,  which  has  spoken  its  complete  message 
in  the  Son,  the  heir  of  all  things,  as  this  Epistle 
tells  us,  has  this  for  the  purpose  of  all  its  words — 
whether  they  are  terrible  or  gentle,  deep  or  simple 
—  that  God's  grace  may  dwell  among  men.  The 
mystery  of  Christ's  being,  the  agony  of  Christ's 
cross,  the  hidden  glories  of  Christ's  dominion  are 
all  for  this  end,  that  of  His  fulness  we  may  all 
receive,  and  grace  for  grace.  The  Old  Testament, 
true  to  its  genius,  ends  with  stern  onward-looking 
words  which  point  to  a  future  coming  of  the  Lord 
and  to  the  possible  terrible  aspect  of  that  coming 
— "  Lest  I  come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a  curse." 
It  is  the  last  echo  of  the  long  drawn  blast  of  the 
trumpets   of  Sinai.     The  New  Testament   ends,  as 


414  THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE  COLOSSIANS. 

our  Epistle  ends,  and  as  we  believe  the  weary- 
history  of  the  world  will  end,  with  the  benediction  : 
"The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you 
all." 

That  grace,  the  love  which  pardons  and  quickens 
and  makes  good  and  fair  and  wise  and  strong,  is 
offered  to  all  in  Christ.  Unless  we  have  accepted 
it,  God's  revelation  and  Christ's  work  have  failed  as 
far  as  we  are  concerned.  "  We  therefore,  as  fellow- 
workers  with  Him,  beseech  you  that  ye  receive  not 
the  grace  of  God  in  vain." 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON. 


**Paul,  a  prisoner  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  Timothy  our  brother,  to 
Philemon  our  beloved  and  fellow-worker,  and  to  Apphia  our  sister, 
and  to  Archippus  our  fellow-soldier,  and  to  the  Church  in  thy  house  : 
Grace  to  you  and  peace  from  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."— Philem.    1-3  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THIS  Epistle  stands  alone  among  Paul's  letters 
in  being  addressed  to  a  private  Christian,  and 
in  being  entirely  occupied  with  a  small  though  very 
singular  private  matter ;  its  aim  being  merely  to 
bespeak  a  kindly  welcome  for  a  runaway  slave  who 
had  been  induced  to  perform  the  unheard-of  act  of 
voluntarily  returning  to  servitude.  If  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  simply  a  book  of  doctrinal  teaching,  this 
Epistle  would  certainly  be  out  of  place  in  it  ;  and 
if  the  great  purpose  of  revelation  were  to  supply 
material  for  creeds,  it  would  be  hard  to  see  what 
value  could  be  attached  to  a  simple,  short  letter,  from 
which  no  contribution  to  theological  doctrine  or 
ecclesiastical  order  can  be  extracted  But  if  we  do 
not  turn  to  it  for  discoveries  of  truth,  we  can  find 
in  it  very  beautiful  illustrations  of  Christianity  at 
work.  ^  It  shows  us  the  operation  of  the  new  forces 
which  Christ  has  lodged  in  humanity — and  that  on 
two  planes  of  action.     It  exhibits  a  perfect  model 

27 


4i8  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

of  Christian  friendship,  refined  and  ennobled  by  a 
half-conscious  reflection  of  the  love  which  has  called 
us  "  no  longer  slaves  but  friends,"  and  adorned  by- 
delicate  courtesies  and  quick  consideration,  which 
divines  with  subtlest  instinct  what  it  will  be  sweetest 
to  the  friend  to  hear,. while  it  never  approaches  by 
a  hair-breadth  to  flattery,  nor  forgets  to  counsel  high 
duties.  But  still  more  important  is  the  light  which 
the  letter  casts  on  the  relation  of  Christianity  to 
slavery,  which  may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of  its 
relation  to  social  and  political  evils  generally,  and 
yields  fruitful  results  for  the  guidance  of  all  who  would 
deal  with  suchT^ 

It  may  be  observed,  too,{^that  most  of  the  con- 
siderations which  Paul  urges  on  Philemon  as  reasons 
for  his  kindly  reception  of  Onesimus  do  not  even 
need  the  alteration  of  a  word,  but  simply  a  change 
in  their  application,  to  become  worthy  statements 
of  the  highest  Christian  truths.  As  Luther  puts  it, 
"  We  are  all  God's  Onesimuses  "  ;  and  the  welcome 
which  Paul  seeks  to  secure  for  the  returning  fugitive, 
as  well  as  the  motives  to  which  he  appeals-  in  order 
to  secure  it,  do  shadow  forth  in  no  uncertain  outline 
our  welcome  from  God,  and  the  treasures  of  His 
heart  towards  us,  because  they  are  at  bottom  the 
same.  ";  The  Epistle  then  is  valuable,  as  showing  in 
a  conci'ete  instance  how  the  Christian  life,  in  its 
attitude  to  others,  and  especially  to  those  who  have 
injured  us,  is  all  modelled  upon  God's  forgiving  love 
to  us.  \  Our  Lord's  parable  of  the  forgiven  servant 
who  took  his  brother  by  the  throat  finds  here  a 
commentary,  and  the  Apostle's  own  precept,  "  Be 
imitators  of  God,  and  walk  in  love,"  a  practical  ex- 
emplification. 


Philem.  1-3.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  419 

Nor  is  the  light  which  the  letter  throws  on  the 
character  of  the  Apostle  to  be  regarded  as  unim- 
portant. The  warmth,  the  delicacy,  and  what,  if  it 
were  not  so  spontaneous,  we  might  call  tact,  the 
graceful  ingenuity  with  which  he  pleads  for  the 
fugitive,  the  perfect  courtesy  of  every  word,  the  gleam 
of  playfulness — all  fused  together  and  harmonized  to 
one  end,  and  that  in  so  brief  a  compass  and  with 
such  unstudied  ease  and  complete  self-oblivion,  make 
this  Epistle  a  pure  gem.  Without  thought  of  effect, 
and  with  complete  unconsciousness,  this  man  beats 
all  the  famous  letter-writers  on  their  own  ground. 
That  must  have  been  a  great  intellect,  and  closely 
conversant  with  the  Fountain  of  all  light  and  beauty, 
which  could  shape  the  profound  and  far-reaching 
teachings  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  and  pass 
from  them  to  the  graceful  simplicity  and  sweet 
kindliness  of  this  exquisite  letter  ;  fas  if  Michael 
Angelo  had  gone  straight  from  smiting  his  magnifi- 
cent Moses  from  the  marble  mass  to  incise  some 
delicate  and  tiny  figure  of  Love  or  Friendship  on  a 
cameo.; 

CTiie- structure  of  the  letter  is  of  the  utmost 
simplicity.  It  is  not  so  much  a  structure  as  a  flow. 
There  is  the  usual  superscription  and  salutation, 
followed,  according  to  Paul's  custom,  by  the  ex- 
pression of  his  thankful  recognition  of  the  love  and 
faith  of  Philemon  and  his  prayer  for  the  perfecting 
of  these.  Then  he  goes  straight  to  the  business  in 
hand,  and  with  incomparable  persuasiveness  pleads 
for  a  welcome  to  Onesimus,  bringing  all  possible 
reasons  to  converge  on  that  one  request,  with  an 
ingenious  eloquence  born  of  earnestness.  Having 
poured  out  his  heart  in  this  pleasure  adds  no  more 


420  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

but  affectionate  greetings  from  his  companions  and 
himself  ^' 

In  the  present  section  we  shall  confine  our  attention 
to  the  superscription  and  opening  salutation. 

I.  We  may  observe  the  Apostle's  designation  of 
himself,  as  marked  by  consummate  and  instinctive 
appreciation  of  the  claims  of  friendship,  and  of  his 
own  position  in  this  letter  as  a  suppliant.  He  does 
not  come  to  his  friend  clothed  with  apostolic 
authority.  In  his  letters  to  the  Churches  he  always 
puts  that  in  the  forefront,  and  when  he  expected  to 
be  met  by  opponents,  as  in  Galatia,  there  is  a  certain 
ring  of  defiance  in  his  claim  to  receive  his  com- 
mission through  no  human  intervention,  but  straight 
from  heaven.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians,  he  unites  another  strangely  contrasted 
title,  and  calls  himself  also  "  the  slave  "  of  Christ  ; 
the  one  name  asserting  authority,  the  other  bowing 
in  humility  before  his  Owner  and  Master.  But  here 
he  is  writing  as  a  friend  to  a  friend,  and  his  object 
is  to  win  his  friend  to  a  piece  of  Christian  conduct 
which  may  be  somewhat  against  the  grain.  Apos- 
tolic authority  will  not  go  half  so  far  as  personal 
influence  in  this  case.  So  he  drops  all  reference 
to  it,  and,  instead,  lets  Philemon  hear  the  fetters 
jangling  on  his  limbs — a  more  powerful  plea.  "  Paul, 
a  prisoner,"  surely  that  would  go  straight  to  Phile- 
mon's heart,  and  give  all  but  irresistible  force  to 
the  request  which  follows.  Surely  if  he  could  do 
anything  to  show  his  love  and  gratify  even  momen- 
tarily his  friend  in  prison,  he  would  not  refuse  it.  If 
this  designation  had  been  calculated  to  produce  effect, 
it  would  have  lost  all  its  grace  ;  but  no  one  with 
any  ear  for  the  accents  of  inartificial  spontaneousness, 


rhilem.  1-3.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  421 

can  fail  to  hear  them  in  the  unconscious  pathos  of 
these  opening  words,  which  say  the  right  thing,  all 
unaware  of  how  right  it  is 

There  is  great  dignity  also,  as  well  as  profound 
faith,  in  the  next  words,  in  which  the  Apostle  calls 
himself  a  prisoner  "of  Christ  Jesus."  With  what 
calm  ignoring  of  all  subordinate  agencies  he  looks  to 
the  true  author  of  his  captivity !  Neither  Jewish 
hatred  nor  Roman  policy  had  shut  him  up  in  Rome. 
Christ  Himself  had  riveted  his  manacles  on  his 
wrists,  therefore  he  bore  them  as  lightly  and  proudly 
as  a  bride  might  wear  the  bracelet  that  her  husband 
had  clasped  on  her  arm.  The  expression  reveals  both 
the  author  of  and  the  reason  for  his  imprisonment, 
and  discloses  the  conviction  which  held  him  up  in  it. 
He  thinks  of  his  Lord  as  the  Lord  of  providence, 
whose  hand  moves  the  pieces  on  the  board — Phari- 
sees, and  Roman  governors,  and  guards,  and  Caesar  ; 
and  he  knows  that  he  is  an  ambassador  in  bonds, 
for  no  crime,  but  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus.  We 
need  only  notice  that  his  younger  companion 
Timothy  is  associated  with  the  Apostle  in  the  super- 
scription, but  disappears  at  once.  The  reason  for 
the  introduction  of  his  name  may  either  have  been 
the  slight  additional  weight  thereby  given  to  the 
request  of  the  letter,  or  more  probably,  the  additional 
authority  thereby  given  to  the  junior,  who  would,  in 
all  likelihood,  have  much  of  Paul's  work  devolved 
on  him  when  Paul  was  gone. 

The  names  of  the  receivers  of  the  letter  bring 
before  us  a  picture  seen,  as  by  one  glimmering  light 
across  the  centuries,  of  a  Christian  household  in  that 
Phrygian  valley.  The  head  of  it,  Philemon,  appears 
to  have  been  a  native  of,  or  at  all  events  a  resident 


422  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

in,  Colossse  ;  for  Onesimus,  his  slave,  is  spoken  of  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Church  there  as " one  oiyou''  He 
was  a  person  of  some  standing  and  wealth,  for  .he 
had  a  house  large  enough  to  admit  of  a  "  Church  " 
assembling  in  it,  and  to  accommodate  the  Apostle  and 
his  travelling  companions  if  he  should  visit  Colossae. 
He  had  apparently  the  means  for  large  pecuniary- 
help  to  poor  brethren,  and  willingness  to  use  them, 
for  we  read  of  the  refreshment  which  his  kindly 
deeds  had  imparted.  He  had  been  one  of  Paul's 
converts,  and  owed  his  own  self  to  him  ;  so  that  he 
must  have  met  the  Apostle, — who  had  probably  not 
been  in  Colossae, — on  some  of  his  journeys,  perhaps 
during  his  three  years'  residence  in  Ephesus.  He 
was  of  mature  years,  if,  as  is  probable,  Archippus, 
who  was  old  enough  to  have  service  to  do  in  the 
Church  (Col.  iv.  17),  was  his  son. 

He  is  called  "  our  fellow-labourer."  The  desig- 
nation may  imply  some  actual  co-operation  at  a 
former  time.  But  more  probably,  the  phrase,  like 
the  similar  one  in  the  next  verse,  "  our  fellow-soldier," 
is  but  Paul's  gracefully  affectionate  way  of  lifting 
these  good  people's  humbler  work  out  of  its  narrow- 
ness, by  associating  it  with  his  own.  They  in  their 
little  sphere,  and  he  in  his  wider,  were  workers  at 
the  same  task.  ('  All  who  toil  for  furtherance  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  however  widely  they  may  be 
parted  by  time  or  distance,  are  fellow-workers. 
Division  of  labour  does  not  impair  unity  of  service. 
The  field  is  wide,  and  the  months  between  seedtime 
and  harvest  are  long  ;  but  all  the  husbandmen  have 
been  engaged  in  the  same  great  work,  and  though 
they  have  toiled  alone  shall  "  rejoice  together.'* 
The  first  man  who  dug  a  shovelful  of  earth  for  the 


Philcm.  1-3.]     THE  EFISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  423 


foundations  of  Cologne  Cathedral,  and  he  who  fixed 
the  last  stone  on  the  topmost  spire  a  thousand  years 
after,  are  fellow-workers.)  ,^So  Paul  and  Philemon, 
though  their  tasks  were  widely  different  in  kind,  in 
range,  and  in  importance,  and  were  carried  on  apart 
and  independent  of  each  other,  were  fellow-workers. 
The  one  lived  a  Christian  life  and  helped  some 
humble  saints  in  an  insignificant,  remote  corner  ; 
the  other  flamed  through  the  whole  then  civilized 
western  world,  and  sheds  light  to-day  :  but  the 
obscure,  twinkling  taper  and  the  blazing  torch  were 
kindled  at  the  same  source,  shone  with  the  same 
light,  and  were  parts  of  one  great  whole.  Our 
narrowness  is  rebuked,  our  despondency  cheered, 
our  vulgar  tendency  to  think  little  of  modest,  obscure 
service  rendered  by  commonplace  people,  and  to 
exaggerate  the  worth  of  the  more  conspicuous,  is 
corrected  by  such  a  thought.  However  small  may 
be  our  capacity  or  sphere,  and  however  solitary  we 
may  feel,  we  may  summon  up  before  the  eyes  of  our 
faith  a  mighty  multitude  of  apostles,  martyrs,  toilers 
in  every  land  and  age  as  our — even  our — work- 
fellows.  The  field  stretches  far  beyond  our  vision, 
and  many  are  toiling  in  it  for  Him,  whose  work 
never  comes  near  ours.  There  are  differences  of 
service,  but  the  same  Lord,  and  all  who  have  the 
same  master  are  companions  in  labour.  Therefore 
Paul,  the  greatest  of  the  servants  of  Christ,  reaches 
down  his  hand  to  the  obscure  Philemon,  and  says, 
"  He  works  the  work  of  the  Lord,  as  I  also  do."  ' 

In  the  house  at  Colossae  there  was  a  Christian 
wife  by  the  side  of  a  Christian  husband  ;  at  least, 
the  mention  of  Apphia  here  in  so  prominent  a  posi- 
tion is  most  naturally  accounted  for  by  supposing  her 


424  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

to  be  the  wife  of  Philemon.  Her  friendly  reception 
of  the  runaway  would  be  quite  as  important  as  his, 
and  it  is  therefore  most  natural  that  the  letter  be- 
speaking it  should  be  addressed  to  both.  The 
probable  reading  "our  sister"  (R.V.),  instead  of 
"our  beloved"  (A.V.),  gives  the  distinct  assurance 
that  she  too  was  a  Christian,  and  like-minded  with 
her  husband. 

The  prominent  mention  of  this  Phrygian  matron 
is  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  Christianity, 
without  meddling  with  social  usages,  introduced,  a 
new  tone  of  feeling  about  the  position  of  woman, 
which  gradually  changed  the  face  of  the  world,  is 
still  working,  and  has  further  revolutions  to  affect. 
The  degraded  classes  of  the  Greek  world  were  slaves 
and  women.  This  Epistle  touches  both,  and  shows 
us  Christianity  in  the  very  act  of  elevating  both. 
The  same  process  strikes  the  fetters  from  the  slave 
and  sets  the  wife  by  the  side  of  the  husband,  "  yoked 
in  all  exercise  of  noble  end," — namely,  the  pro- 
clamation of  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  all  mankind, 
and  of  all  human  creatures  as  equally  capable  of 
receiving  an  equal  salvation.  That  annihilates  all 
distinctions.  The  old  world  was  parted  by  deep 
gulfs.  There  were  three  of  special  depth  and  width, 
across  which  it  was  hard  for  sympathy  to  fly. 
These  were  the  distinctions  of  race,  sex,  and  con- 
dition. But  the  good  news  that  Christ  has  died  for 
all  men,  and  is  ready  to  live  in  all  men,  has  thrown  a 
bridge  across,  or  rather  has  filled  up,  the  ravine  ;  so 
the  Apostle  bursts  into  his  triumphant  proclamation, 
*  There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  there  is  neither 
bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither  male  nor  female  ;  for 
yc  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus."   . 


Philcm.  i-j.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  42$ 


A  third  name  is  united  with  those  of  husband  and 
wife,  that  of  Archippus.  The  close  relation  in  which 
the  names  stand,  and  the  purely  domestic  character 
of  the  letter,  make  it  probable  that  he  was  a  son  of 
the  wedded  pair.  At  all  events,  he  was  in  some 
way  part  of  their  household,  possibly  some  kind  of 
teacher  and  guide.  We  meet  his  name  also  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  and,  from  the  nature  of 
the  reference  to  him  there,  we  draw  the  inference 
that  he  filled  some  "  ministry "  in  the  Church  of 
Laodicea.  The  nearness  of  the  two  cities  made  it 
quite  possible  that  he  should  live  in  Philemon's 
house  in  Colossae  and  yet  go  over  to  Laodicea  for 
his  work. 

The  Apostle  calls  him  "his  fellow-soldier,"  a 
phrase  which  is  best  explained  in  the  same  fashion 
as  is  the  previous  "  fellow-worker,"  namely,  that  by 
it  Paul  graciously  associates  Archippus  with  himself, 
different  as  their  tasks  were.  The  variation  of 
soldier  for  worker  probably  is  due  to  the  fact  of 
Archippus'  being  the  bishop  of  the  Laodicean  Church. 
In  any  case,  it  is  very  beautiful  that  the  grizzled 
veteran  officer  should  thus,  as  it  were,  clasp  the  hand 
of  this  young  recruit,  and  call  him  his  comrade. 
How  it  would  go  to  the  heart  of  Archippus  ! 

A  somewhat  stern  message  is  sent  to  Archippus 
in  the  Colossian  letter.  Why  did  not  Paul  send  it 
quietly  in  this  Epistle  instead  of  letting  a  whole 
Church  know  of  it  t  It  seems  at  first  sight  as  if  he 
had  chosen  the  harshest  way ;  but  perhaps  further 
consideration  may  suggest  that  the  reason  wa5  an 
instinctive  unwillingness  to  introduce  a  jarring  note 
into  the  joyous  friendship  and  confidence  which 
sounds   through    this    Epistle,   and   to  bring   public 


426  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

matters  into  this  private  communication.  The  warn- 
ing would  come  with  more  effect  from  the  Church, 
and  this  cordial  message  of  goodwill  and  confidence 
would  prepare  Archippus  to  receive  the  other,  as 
rain  showers  make  the  ground  soft  for  the  good 
seed.  The  private  affection  would  mitigate  the 
public  exhortation  with  whatever  rebuke  may  have 
been  in  it. 

A  greeting  is  sent,  too,  to  "  the  Church  in  thy 
house."  As  in  the  case  of  the  similar  community 
in  the  house  of  Nymphas  (Col.  iv.  15),  we  cannot 
decide  whether  by  this  expression  is  meant  simply  a 
Christian  family,  or  some  little  company  of  believers 
who  were  wont  to  meet  beneath  Philemon's  roof  for 
Christian  converse  and  worship.  The  latter  seems 
the  more  probable  supposition.  It  is  natural  that 
they  should  be  addressed  ;  for  Onesimus,  if  received 
by  Philemon,  would  naturally  become  a  member  of 
the  group,  and  therefore  it  was  important  to  secure 
their  good  will. 

So  we  have  here  shown  to  us,  by  one  stray  beam 
of  twinkling  light,  for  a  moment,  a  very  sweet 
picture  of  the  domestic  life  of  that  Christian  house- 
hold in  their  remote  valley.  It  shines  still  to  us 
across  the  centuries,  which  have  swallowed  up  so 
much  that  seemed  more  permanent,  and  silenced  so 
much  that  made  far  more  noise  in  its  day.  The 
picture  may  well  set  us  asking  ourselves  the  question 
whether  we,  with  all  our  boasted  advancement,  have 
been  able  to  realize  the  true  ideal  of  Christian  family 
life  as  these  three  did.  The  husband  and  wife 
dwelling  as  heirs  together  of  the  grace  of  life,  their 
child  beside  them  sharing  their  faith  and  service, 
their  household  ordered  in  the  ways   of  the  Lord, 


Pliiiem.  1-3.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO   PHILEMOlSr,  427 

their  friends  Christ's  friends,  and  their  social  joys 
hallowed  and  serene — what  nobler  form  of  family 
life  can  be  conceived  than  that  ?  What  a  rebuke 
to,  and  satire  on,  many  a  so-called  Christian  house- 
hold !  "^ 

II.  We  may  deal  briefly  with  the  apostolic  salu- 
tation, "Grace  to  you  and  peace  from  God  our 
Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  as  we  have 
already  had  to  speak  of  it  in  considering  the  greet- 
ing to  the  Colossians.  The  two  main  points  to  be 
observed  in  these  words  are  the  comprehensiveness 
of  the  Apostle's  loving  wish,  and  the  source  to  which 
he  looks  for  its  fulfilment.  Just  as  the  regal  title 
of  the  King,  whose  Throne  was  the  Cross,  was 
written  in  the  languages  of  culture,  of  law,  and  of 
religion,  as  an  unconscious  prophecy  of  His  universal 
reign  ;  so,  with  like  unintentional  felicity,  we  have 
blended  here  the  ideals  of  good  which  the  East  and 
the  West  have  framed  for  those  to  whom  they  wish 
good,  in  token  that  Christ  is  able  to  slake  all  the 
thirsts  of  the  soul,  and  that  whatsoever  things  any 
races  of  men  have  dreamed  as  the  chiefest  blessings, 
these  are  all  to  be  reached  through  Him  and  Him 
only. 

But  the  deeper  lesson  here  is  to  be  found  by 
observing  that  "  grace  "  refers  to  the  action  of  the 
Divine  heart,  and  "  peace  "  to  the  result  thereof  in 
man's  experience.  As  we  have  noted  in  comment- 
ing on  Col.  i.  2,  "  grace "  is  free,  undeserved,  un- 
motived,  self-springing  love.  Hence  it  comes  to 
mean,  not  only  the  deep  fountain  in  the  Divine 
nature,  that  His  love,  which,  like  some  strong  spring, 
leaps  up  and  gushes  forth  by  an  inward  impulse,  in 
neglect  of  all  motives  drawn  from  the  lovableness 


428  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

of  its  objects,  such  as  determine  our  poor  human 
loves,  but  also  the  results  of  that  bestowing  love  in 
men's  characters,  or,  as  we  say,  the  "  graces  "  of  the 
Christian  soul.  They  are  "  grace,"  not  only  because 
in  the  aesthetic  sense  of  the  word  they  are  beautiful, 
but  because,  in  the  theological  meaning  of  it,  they 
are  the  products  of  the  giving  love  and  power  of 
God.  "  Whatsoever  things  are  lovely  and  of  good 
report,"  all  nobilities,  tendernesses,  exquisite  beauties, 
and  steadfast  strengths  of  mind  and  heart,  of  will 
and  disposition — all  are  the  gifts  of  God's  undeserved 
and  open-handed  love. 

The  fruit  of  such  grace  received  is  peace.  In  other 
places  the  Apostle  twice  gives  a  fuller  form  of  this 
salutation,  inserting  "  mercy  "  between  the  two  here 
named  ;  as  also  does  St.  John  in  his  second  Epistle. 
That  fuller  form  gives  us  the  source  in  the  Divine 
heart,  the  manifestation  of  grace  in  the  Divine  act, 
and  the  outcome  in  human  experience  ;  or  as  we 
may  say,  carrying  on  the  metaphor,  the  broad,  calm 
lake  which  the  grace,  flowing  to  us  in  the  stream 
of  mercy,  makes,  when  it  opens  out  in  our  hearts. 
Here,  however,  we  have  but  the  ultimate  source,  and 
the,  effect  in  us. 

All  the  discords  of  our  nature  and  circumstances 
can  be  harmonized  by  that  grace  which  is  ready  to 
flow  into  our  hearts.  Peace  with  God,  with  our- 
selves, with  our  fellows,  repose  in  the  midst  of 
change,  calm  in  conflict,  may  be  ours.  ,-  All  these 
various  applications  of  the  one  idea  should  be  in- 
cluded in  our  interpretation,  for  they  are  all  included 
in  fact  in  the  peace  which  God's  grace  brings  where 
it  lights.  4jrhe  first  and  deepest  need  of  the  soul  is 
conscious  amity  and  harmony  with  God,  and  nothing 


Philem.  1-3.]     THE  EPISTLE   70  PHILEMON.  429 

but  the  consciousness  of  His  love  as  forgiving  and 
healing  brings  that.  We  are  torn  asunder  by  con- 
flicting passions,  and  our  hearts  are  the  battleground 
for  conscience  and  inclination,  sin  and  goodness, 
hopes  and  fears,  and  a  hundred  other  contending 
emotions.  Nothing  but  a  heavenly  power  can  make 
the  lion  within  lie  down  with  the  lamb.  Our  natures 
are  "  like  the  troubled  sea,  which  cannot  rest,"  whose 
churning  waters  cast  up  the  foul  things  that  lie  in 
their  slimy  beds  ;  but  where  God's  grace  comes,  a 
great  calm  hushes  the  tempests,  "  and  birds  of  peace 
sit  brooding  on  the  charmed  wave." 

We  are  compassed  about  by  foes  with  whom  we 
have  to  wage  undying  warfare,  and  by  hostile  cir- 
cumstances and  difficult  tasks  which  need  continual 
conflict  ;  but  a  man  with  God's  grace  in  his  heart 
may  have  the  rest  of  submission,  the  repose  of  trust, 
the  tranquillity  of  him  who  "  has  ceased  from  his 
own  works  "  :  and  so,  while  the  daily  struggle  goes 
on  and  the  battle  rages  round,  there  may  be  quiet, 
deep  and  sacred,  in  his  heart.  ^ 

The  life  of  nature,  which  is  a  selfish  life,  flings 
us  into  unfriendly  rivalries  with  others,  and  sets  us 
battling  for  our  own  hands,  and  it  is  hard  to  pass 
out  of  ourselves  sufficiently  to  live  peaceably  with 
all  men.  But  the  grace  of  God  in  our  hearts  drives 
out  self,  and  changes  the  man  who  truly  has  it  into 
its  own  likeness.  He  who  knows  that  he  owes 
everything  to  a  Divine  love  which  stooped  to  his 
lowliness,  and  pardoned  h{s  sins,  and  enriched  him 
with  all  which  he  has  that  is  worthy  and  noble, 
cannot  but  'move  among  men,  doihg^with  them,  in 
his  poor  fashion,  what  God  has  done  with  him. 

Thus,  in  all  the  manifold  forms  in  which  restless 


430  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

hearts  need  peace,  the  grace  of  God  brings  it  to 
them.  The  great  river  of  mercy  which  has  its  source 
deep  in  the  heart  of  God,  and  in  His  free,  un- 
deserved love,  pours  into  poor,  unquiet  spirits,  and 
there  spreads  itself  into  a  placid  lake,  on  whose  still 
surface  all  heaven  is  mirrored. y 

The  elliptical  form  of  this  salutation  leaves  it 
doubtful  whether  we  are  to  see  in  it  a  prayer  or  a 
prophecy,  a  wish  or  an  assurance.  According  to 
the  probable  reading  of  the  parallel  greeting  in  the 
second  Epistle  of  John,  the  latter  would  be  the 
construction  ;  but  probably  it  is  best  to  combine 
both  ideas,  and  to  see  here,  as  Bengel  does  in  the 
passage  referred  to  in  John's  Epistle,  "  votum  cum 
afhrmatione" — a  desire  which  is  so  certain  of  its 
own  fulfilment,  that  it  is  a  prophecy,  just  because  it 
is  a  prayer. 

The  ground  of  the  certainty  lies  in  the  source 
from  which  the  grace  and  peace  come.  They  flow 
"  from  God  the  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
The  placing  of  both  names  under  the  government  of 
one  preposition  implies  the  mysterious  unity  of  the 
Father  with  the  Son  ;  while  conversely  St.  John,  in 
the  parallel  passage  just  mentioned,  by  employing 
two  prepositions,  brings  out  the  distinction  between 
the  Father,  who  is  the  fontal  source,  and  the  Son, 
who  is  the  flowing  stream.  But  both  forms  of  the 
expression  demand  for  their  honest  explanation  the 
recognition  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  How 
dare  a  man,  who  thought  of  Him  as  other  than 
Divine,  put  His  name  thus  by  the  side  of  God's,  as 
associated  with  the  Father  in  the  bestov^l  of  grace  ? 
Surely  such  words,  spoken  without  any  thought  of 
a  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  which  are  the  spon- 


Philcm.  1-3.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  431 


taneous  utterance  of  Christian  devotion,  are  demon- 
stration, not  to  be  gainsaid,  that  to  Paul,  at  all 
events,  Jesus  Christ  was,  in  the  fullest  sense,  Divine. 
The  double  source  is  one  source,  for  in  the  Son  is 
the  whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead  ;  and  the  grace  of 
God,  bringing  with  it  the  peace  of  God,  is  poured 
into  that  spirit  which  bows  humbly  before  Jesus 
Christ,  and  trusts  Him  when  He  says,  with  love  in 
His  eyes  and  comfort  in  His  tones,  "  My  grace  is 
sufficient  for  thee  " ;  "  My  peace  give  I  unto  you." 


II. 

*  I  thank  my  God  always,  making  mention  of  thee  in  my  prayers, 
hearing  of  thy  love,  and  of  the  faith  which  thou  hast  toward  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  toward  all  the  saints  ;  that  the  fellowship  of  thy  faith  may 
become  effectual,  in  the  knowledge  of  every  good  thing  which  is  in  you, 
unto  Christ.  For  I  had  much  joy  and  comfort  in  thy  love,  because  the 
hearts  of  the  saints  have  been  refreshed  through  thee,  brother." — 
Philem.  4-7  (Rev.  Ver.). 

PAUL'S  was  one  of  those  regal  natures  to  which 
things  are  possible  that  other  men  dare  not  do. 
No  suspicion  of  weakness  attaches  to  him  when  he 
pours  out  his  heart  in  love,  nor  any  of  insincerity 
when  he  speaks  of  his  continual  prayers  for  his 
friends,  or  when  he  runs  over  in  praise  of  his  con- 
verts. Few  men  have  been  able  to  talk  so  much  of 
their  love  without  betraying  its  shallowness  and  self- 
consciousness,  or  of  their  prayers  without  exciting 
a  doubt  of  their  manly  sincerity.  But  the  Apostle 
could  venture  to  do  these  things  without  being 
thought  either  feeble  or  false,  and  could  unveil  his 
deepest  affections  and  his  most  secret  devotions 
without  provoking  either  a  smile  or   a  shrug. 

He  has  the  habit  of  beginning  all  his  letters  with 
thankful  commendations  and  assurances  of  a  place 
in  his  prayers.  The  exceptions  are  2  Corinthians, 
where  he  writes  under  strong  and  painful  emotion, 
and  Galatians,  where  a  vehement  accusation  of 
fickleness  takefi  the  place  of  the  usual  greeting.     But 


Philem.  4-7-]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  433 

these  exceptions  make  the  habit  more  conspicuous. 
Though  this  is  a  habit,  it  is  not  a  form,  but  the 
perfectly  simple  and  natural  expression  of  the 
moment's  feelings.  He  begins  his  letters  so,  not 
in  order  to  please  and  to  say  smooth  things,  but 
because  he  feels  lovingly,  and  his  heart  fills  with 
a  pure  joy  which  speaks  most  fitly  in  prayer.  To 
recognise  good  is  the  way  to  make  good  better. 
Teachers  must  love  if  their  teaching  is  to  help. 
The  best  way  to  secure  the  doing  of  any  signal 
act  of  Christian  generosity,  such  as  Paul  wished  of 
Philemon,  is  to  show  absolute  confidence  that  it  will 
be  done,  because  it  is  in  accordance  with  what  we 
know  of  the  doer's  character.  "  It's  a  shame  to  tell 
Arnold  a  lie  ;  he  always  trusts  us,"  the  Rugby  boys 
used  to  say.  Nothing  could  so  powerfully  have 
swayed  Philemon  to  grant  Paul's  request,  as  Paul's 
graceful  mention  of  his  beneficence,  which  mention 
is  yet  by  no  means  conscious  diplomacy,  but  in- 
stinctive kindliness.  ; 

The  words  of  this  section  are  simple  enough,  but 
their  order  is  not  altogether  clear.  They  are  a  good 
example  of  the  hurry  and  rush  of  the  Apostle's  style, 
arising  from  his  impetuosity  of  nature.  His  thoughts 
and  feelings  come  knocking  at  "  the  door  of  his 
lips  "  in  a  crowd,  and  do  not  always  make  their  way 
out  in  logical  order.  For  instance,  he  begins  here 
with  thankfulness,  and  that  suggests  the  mention 
of  his  prayers,  v.  4.  Then  he  gives  the  occasion  of 
his  thankfulness  in  v.  5,  "  Hearing  of  thy  love  and 
of  the  faith  which  thou  hast,"  etc.  He  next  tells 
Philemon  the  subject  matter  of  his  prayers  in  v.  6, 
"  That  the  fellowship  of  thy  faith  may  become 
effectual,"  etc     These  two  verses    thus   correspond 

2Z 


434  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

to  the  two  clauses  of  v.  4,  and  finally  in  v.  7  he 
harks  back  once  more  to  his  reasons  for  thankfulness 
in  Philemon's  love  and  faith,  adding,  in  a  very 
lovely  and  pathetic  way,  that  the  good  deeds  done 
in  far  off  Colossae  had  wafted  a  refreshing  air  to  the 
Roman  prison  house,  and,  little  as  the  doer  knew  it, 
had  been  a  joy  and  comfort  to  the  solitary  prisoner 
there. 

I.  We  have, — then,  here  the  character  of  Philemon, 
which  made  Paul  glad  and  thankful.  The  order 
of  the  language  is  noteworthy.  Love  is  put  before 
faith.  The  significance  of  this  sequence  comes  out 
by  contrast  with  similar  expressions  in  Ephesians  i. 
15  :  "Your  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  love  unto 
all  the  saints "  (A.V.)  and  Colossians  i.  4  :  "  Your 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  the  love  which  ye  have 
toward  all  the  saints,"  where  the  same  elements  are 
arranged  in  the  more  natural  order,  corresponding 
to  their  logical  relation  ;  viz.,  faith  first,  and  love 
as  its  consequence.  The  reason  for  the  change  here 
is  probably  that  Onesimus  and  Epaphras,  from 
whom  Paul  would  be  likely  to  hear  of  Philemon, 
would  enlarge  upon  his  practical  benevolence,  and 
would  naturally  say  less  about  the  root  than  about 
the  sweet  and  visible  fruit.  The  arrangement  then 
is  an  echo  of  the  talks  which  had  gladdened  the 
Apostle.  Possibly,  too,  love  is  put  first,  because  the 
object  of  the  whole  letter  is  to  secure  its  exercise 
towards  the  fugitive  slave  ;  and  seeing  that  the 
.Apostle  would  listen  with  that  purpose  in  view,  each 
story  which  was  told  of  Philemon's  kindness  to 
others  made  the  deeper  impression  on  Paul.  The 
order  here  is  the  order  of  analysis,  digging  down 
from    manifestation    to    cause  :    the    order    in    the 


Philem.  4-7.]     THE  EPISTLE    TO  PHILEMON.  435 

parallel  passages  quoted  is  the  order  of  production 
ascending  from   root  to  flower. 

Another  peculiarity  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
words  is  that  the  objects  of  love  and  faith  are  named 
in  the  reverse  order  to  that  in  which  these  graces 
are  mentioned,  "  the  Lord  Jesus "  being  first,  and 
"  all  the  saints  "  last.  Thus  we  have,  as  it  were, 
"  faith  towards  the  Lord  Jesus "  imbedded  in  the 
centre  of  the  verse,  while  "thy  love  .  .  .  toward 
all  the  saints,"  which  flows  from  it,  wraps  it  round.\ 
The  arrangement  is  like  some  forms  of  Hebrew 
poetical  parallelism,  in  which  the  first  and  fourth 
members  correspond,  and  the  second  and  third,  or 
like  the  pathetic  measure  of  In  Meinoriam,  and  has 
the  same  sweet  lingering  cadence;  while  it  also 
implies  important  truths  as  to  the  central  place  in 
regard  to  the  virtues  which  knit  hearts  in  soft  bonds 
of  love  and  help,  of  the  faith  which  finds  its  sole 
object  in  Jesus  Christ. 

_/rhe  source  and  foundation  of  goodness  and 
nobility  of  character  is  faith  in  Jesus  the  Lord. 
That  must  be  buried  deep  in  the  soul  if  tender  love 
toward  men  is  to  flow  from  it.  It  is  "the  very 
pulse  of  the  machine."  All  the  pearls  of  goodness 
are  held  in  solution  in  faith.  Or,  to  speak  more 
accurately,  faith  in  Christ  gives  possession  of  His 
life  and  Spirit,  from  which  all  good  is  unfolded  ; 
and  it  further  sets  in  action  strong  motives  by  which 
to  lead  to  every  form  of  purity  and  beauty  of  soul  ; 
and,  still  further,  it  brings  the  heart  into  glad  contact 
with  a  Divine  love  which  forgives  its  Onesimuses, 
and  so  it  cannot  but  touch  the  heart  into  some 
glad  imitation  of  that  love  wdiich  is  its  own  dearest 
treasure.      So  that,  for  all   these  and   many  more 


436  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

reasons,  love  to  men  is  the  truest  visible  expression, 
as  it  is  the  direct  and  necessary  result,  of  faith  in 
Christ.  What  is  exhaled  from  the  heart  and  drawn 
upwards  by  the  fervours  of  Christ's  self-sacrificing 
love  is  faith  ;  when  it  falls  on  earth  again,  as  a  sweet 
rain  of  pity  and  tenderness,  it  is  love. 

Further,  the  true  object  of  faith  and  one  phase  of 
its  attitude  towards  that  object  are  brought  out  in 
this  central  clause.  We  have  the  two  names  which 
express,  the  one  the  divinity,  the  other  the  humanity 
of  Christ.  So  the  proper  object  of  faith  is  the 
whole  Christ,  in  both  His  natures,  the  Divine-human 
Saviour.  Christian  faith  sees  the  divinity  in  the 
humanity,  and  the  humanity  around  the  divinity. 
A  faith  which  grasps  only  the  manhood  is  maimed, 
and  indeed  has  no  right  to  the  name.  Humanity 
is  not  a  fit  object  of  trust.  It  may  change  ;  it  has 
limits ;  it  must  die.  "  Cursed  be  the  man  that 
maketh  flesh  his  arm,"  is  as  true  about  faith  in  a 
merely  human  Christ  as  about  faith  in  any  other 
man.  There  may  be  reverence,  there  may  be  in 
some  sense  love,  obedience,  imitation ;  but  there 
should  not  be,  and  I  see  not  how  there  can  be, 
the  absolute  reliance,  the  utter  dependence,  the 
unconditional  submission,  which  are  of  the  very 
essence  of  faith,  in  the  emotions  which  men  cherish 
towards  a  human  Christ.  The  Lord  Jesus  only  can 
evoke  these.  On  the  other  hand,  the  far  off  splendour 
and  stupendous  glory  of  the  Divine  nature  becomes 
the  object  of  untrembling  trust,  and  draws  near 
enough  to  be  known  and  loved,  when  we  have  it 
mellowed  to  our  weak  eyes  by  shining  through  the 
tempering  medium  of  His  humanity. 

The  preposition  here  used  to  define  the  relation 


Philem.  4-7-]     THE  EPISTLE    TO  I UILEMON,  437 

of  faith  to  its  object  is  noteworthy.  Faith  is 
"  toward  "  Him.  The  idea  is  that  of  a  movement 
of  yearning  after  an  unattained  good.  And  that  is 
one  part  of  the  true  office  of  faith.  There  is  in  it 
an  element  of  aspiration,  as  of  the  soaring  eagle  to 
the  sun,  or  the  climbing  tendrils  to  the  summit  of 
the  supporting  stem.  In  Christ  there  is  always 
something  beyond,  which  discloses  itself  the  more 
clearly,  the  fuller  is  our  present  possession  of  Him. 
Faith  builds  upon  and  rests  in  the  Christ  possessed 
and  experienced,  and  just  therefore  will  it,  if  it  be 
true,  yearn  towards  the  Christ  unpossessed.  A 
great  reach  of  flashing  glory  beyond  opens  on  us, 
as  we  round  each  new  headland  in  that  unending 
voyage.  Our  faith  should  and  will  be  an  ever- 
increasing  fruition  of  Christ,  accompanied  with  in- 
creasing perception  of  unreached  depths  in  Him, 
and  increasing  longing  after  enlarged  possession  of 
His  infinite  fulness. 

Where  the  centre  is  such  a  faith,  its  circumference 
and  outward  expression  will  be  a  widely  diffused 
love.  That  deep  and  most  private  emotion  of  the 
soul,  which  is  the  flight  of  the  lonely  spirit  to  the 
single  Christ,  as  if  these  two  were  alone  in  the  world, 
does  not  bar  a  man  off  from  his  kind,  but  effloresces 
into  the  largest  and  most  practi^^l  love.  When  one 
point  of  the  compasses  is  struck  deeply  and  firmly 
into  that  centre  of  all  things,  the  other  can  steadily 
sweep  a  wide  circle.  The  widest  is  not  here  drawn, 
but  a  somewhat  narrower,  concentric  one.  The  love 
is  "  toward  all  saints."  Clearly  their  relation  to 
Jesus  Christ  puts  all  Christians  into  relation  with 
one  another.  That  was  an  astounding  thought  in 
Philemon's    days,  when   such    high  walls    separated 


438  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

race  from  race,  the  slave  from  the  free,  woman  from 
man  ;  but  the  new  faith  leaped  all  barriers,  and  put 
a  sense  of  brotherhood  into  every  heart  that  learned 
God's  fatherhood  in  Jesus.  The  nave  of  the  wheel 
holds  all  the  spokes  in  place.  The  sun  makes  the 
system  called  by  its  name  a  unity,  though  some 
planets  be  of  giant  bulk  and  swing  through  a  mighty 
orbit,  waited  on  by  obedient  satellites,  and  some  be 
but  specks  and  move  through  a  narrow  circle,  and 
some  have  scarce  been  seen  by  human  eye.  All 
are  one,  because  all  revolve  round  one  sun,  though 
solemn  abysses  part  them,  and  though  no  message 
has  ever  crossed  the  gulfs  from  one  to  another. 

The  recognition  of  the  common  relation  which  all 
who  bear  the  same  relation  to  Christ  bear  to  one 
another  has  more  formidable  difficulties  to  encounter 
to-day  than  it  had  in  these  times  when  the  Church 
had  no  stereotyped  creeds  and  no  stiffened  organ- 
izations, and  when  to  the  flexibility  of  its  youth 
were  added  the  warmth  of  new  conviction  and  the 
joy  of  a  new  field  for  expanding  emotions  of 
brotherly  kindness.  But  nothing  can  absolve  from 
the  duty.  Creeds  separate,  Christ  unites.  The 
road  to  "  the  reunion  of  Christendom "  is  through 
closer  union  to  Jesus  Christ.  When  that  is  secured, 
barriers  which  now  keep  brethren  apart  will  be 
leaped,  or  pulled  down,  or  got  rid  of  somehow.  It 
\s  of  no  use  to  say,  "  Go  to,  let  us  love  one  another." 
That  will  be  unreal,  mawkish,  histrionic.  "The 
faith  which  thou  hast  toward  the  Lord  Jesus  "  will 
be  the  productive  cause,  as  it  is  the  measure,  of 
"  thy  love  toward  all  the  saints."  / 

But  the  love  which  is  here  commended  is  not  a 
mere  feeling,  nor  does  it  go  off  in  gushes,  however 


PhiIem.4-7-]     THE  EPISTLE   70  PHILEMON.  439 

fervid,  of  eloquent  emotion.  Clearly  Philemon  was 
aT'benefactor  of  the  brotherhood,  and  his  love  did 
not  spend  only  the  paper  money  of  words  and 
promises  to  pay,  but  the  solid  coin  of  kindly  deeds. 
Practical  charity  is  plainly  included  in  that  love  of 
which  it  had  cheered  Paul  in  his  imprisonment  to 
hear.  Its  mention,  then,  is  one  step  nearer  to  the 
object  of  the  letter.  Paul  conducts  his  siege  of 
Philemon's  heart  skilfully,  and  opens  here  a  fresh 
parallel,  and  creeps  a  yard  or  two  closer  up. 
"  Surely  you  are  not  going  to  shut  out  one  of  your 
own  household  from  that  wide-reaching  kindness." 
So  much  is  most  delicately  hinted,  or  rather,  left 
to  Philemon  to  infer,  by  the  recognition  of  his 
brotherly  love.  A  hint  lies  in  it  that  there  may 
be  a  danger  of  cherishing  a  cheap  and  easy  charity 
that  reverses  the  law  of  gravity,  and  //^creases  as  the 
square  of  the  distance,  having  tenderness  and  smiles 
for  people  and  Churches  which  are  well  out  of  our 
road,  and  frowns  for  some  nearer  home.  "  He 
that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen, 
how  shall  he  love  "  his  brother  "  whom  he  hath  not 
seen  ? " 

II.  In  V,  6  we  have  the  apostolic  prayer  for 
Philemon,  grounded  on  the  tidings  of  his  love  and 
faith.  It  is  immediately  connected  with  "  the 
prayers  "  of  v.  4  by  the  introductory  "  that,"  which 
is  best  understood  as  introducing  the  subject  matter 
of  the  prayer.  Whatever  then  may  be  the  meaning 
of  this  supplication,  it  is  a  prayer  for  Philemon,  and 
not  for  others.  That  remark  disposes  of  the  ex- 
planations which  widen  its  scope,  contrary,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  to  the  natural  understanding  of  the 
context 


440  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

"  The  fellowship  of  thy  faith  "  is  capable  of  more 
than  one  meaning.  The  signification  of  the  principal 
word  and  the  relation  expressed  by  the  preposition 
may  be  variously  determined.  "  Fellowship  "  is  more 
than  once  used  in  the  sense  of  sharing  material 
wealth  with  Christ's  poor,  or  more  harshly  and 
plainly,  charitable  contribution.  So  we  find  it  in 
Romans  xv.  26  and  2  Corinthians  ix.  13.  Adopt- 
ing that  meaning  here,  the  "  of"  must  express,  as 
it  often  does,  the  origin  of  Philemon's  kindly  gifts, 
namely,  his  faith ;  and  the  whole  phrase  accords 
with  the  preceding  verse  in  its  view  of  the  genesis  of 
beneficence  to  the  brethren  as  the  result  of  faith  in 
the  Lord. 

The  Apostle  prays  that  this  faith-begotten  practical 
liberality  may  become  efficacious,  or  may  acquire 
still  more  power ;  i.e.  may  increase  in  activity,  and 
so  may  lead  to  "  the  knowledge  of  every  good  thing 
that  is  in  us."  The  interpretation  has  found  ex- 
tensive support,  which  takes  this  as  equivalent  to 
a  desire  that  Philemon's  good  deeds  might  lead 
others,  whether  enemies  or  friends,  to  recognise  the 
beauties  of  sympathetic  goodness  in  the  true  Chris- 
tian character.  Such  an  explanation  hopelessly 
confuses  the  Vvhole,  and  does  violence  to  the  plain 
requirements  of  the  context,  which  limit  the  prayer 
to  Philemon.  It  is  his  "  knowledge  "  of  which  Paul 
is  thinking.  The  same  profound  and  pregnant  word 
is  used  here  which  occurs  so  frequently  in  the  other 
epistles  of  the  captivity,  and  which  always  means 
that  deep  and  vital  knowledge  which  knows  because 
it  possesses.  Usually  its  object  is  God  as  revealed 
in  the  great  work  and  person  of  Christ.  Here  its 
object   is  the   sum   total   of  spiritual   blessings,  the 


Philem.4-7-]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  441 

whole  fulness  of  the  gifts  given  us  by,  and,  at  bottom, 
consisting  of,  that  same  Christ  dwelling  in  the  heart, 
who  is  revealer,  because  He  is  communicator,  of 
God.  The  full,  deep  knowledge  of  this  manifold 
and  yet  one  good  is  no  mere  theoretical  work  of  the 
understanding,  but  is  an  experience  which  is  only 
possible  to  him  who  enjoys  it. 

The  meaning  of  the  whole  prayer,  then,  put  into 
feebler  and  more  modern  dress  is  simply  that 
Philemon's  liberality  and  Christian  love  may  grow 
more  and  more,  and  may  help  him  to  a  fuller  appro- 
priation and  experience  of  the  large  treasures  "which 
are  in  us,"  though  in  germ  and  potentiality  only, 
until  brought  into  consciousness  by  our  own  Chris- 
tian growth.  The  various  readings  "  in  us,"  or  "  in 
you  "  only  widen  the  circle  of  possessors  of  these 
gifts  to  the  whole  Church,  or  narrow  it  to  the 
believers  of  Colossse?) 

There  still  remain  for  consideration  the  last  words 
of  the  clause,  "unto  Christ."  They  must  be  referred 
back  to  the  main  subject  of  the  sentence,  "  may 
become  effectual."  They  seem  to  express  the  con- 
dition on  which  Christian  "  fellowship,"  like  all 
Christian  acts,  can  be  quickened  with  energy,  and 
tend  to  spiritual  progress  ;  namely,  that  it  shall  be 
done  as  to  the  Lord.  There  is  perhaps  in  this 
appended  clause  a  kind  of  lingering  echo  of  our 
Lord's  own  words,  in  which  He  accepts  as  done 
unto  Him  the  kindly  deeds  done  to  the  least  of  His 
brethren. 

So  then  this  great  prayer  brings  out  very  strongly 
the  goal  to  which  the  highest  perfection  of  Christian 
character  has  still  to  aspire.  Philemon  was  no 
weakling   or  laggard   in   the  Christian  conflict  and 


442  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

race.  His  attainments  sent  a  thrill  of  thankfulness 
through  the  Apostle's  spirit.  But  there  remained 
"  very  much  land  to  be  possessed  "  ;  and  precisely 
because  he  had  climbed  so  far,  does  his  friend  pray 
that  he  may  mount  still  higher,  where  the  sweep 
of  view  is  wider,  and  the  air  clearer  still.  It  is  an 
endless  task  to  bring  into  conscious  possession  and 
exercise  all  the  fulness  with  which  Christ  endows 
His  feeblest  servant.  Not  till  all  that  God  can  give, 
or  rather  has  given,  has  been  incorporated  in  the 
nature  and  wrought  out  in  the  life,  is  the  term 
reached.  This  is  the  true  sublime  of  the  Christian 
life,  that  it  begins  with  the  reception  of  a  strictly 
infinite  gift,  and  demands  immortality  as  the  field 
for  unfolding  its  worth.  Continual  progress  in  all 
that  ennobles  the  nature,  satisfies  the  heart,  and 
floods  the  mind  with  light  is  the  destiny  of  the 
Christian  soul,  and  of  it  alone.  Therefore  unwearied 
effort,  buoyancy,  and  hope  which  no  dark  memories 
can  dash  nor  any  fears  darken  should  mark  their 
temper,  to  whom  the  future  offers  an  absolutely  end- 
less and  limitless  increase  in  the  possession  of  the 
infinite  God. ' 

There  is  also  brought  out  in  this  prayer  the  value 
of  Christian  beneficence  as  a  means  of  spiritual 
growth.  Philemon's  "  communication  of  faith  "  will 
help  him  to  the  knowledge  of  the  fulness  of  Christ, 
The  reaction  of  conduct  on  character  and  growth  in 
godliness  is  a  familiar  idea  with  Paul,  especially  in 
the  prison  epistles.  Thus  we  read  in  his  prayer  for 
the  Colossians,  "  fruitful  in  every  good  work,  and 
increasing  in  the  knowledge  of  God."  The  faithful 
carrying  out  in  life  of  what  we  already  know  is  not 
the  least  important  condition  of  increasing  knowledge. 


Philem.  4-7.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  443 

If  a  man  does  not  live  up  to  his  religion,  his  religion 
shrinks  to  the  lev -I  of  his  life.  Unoccupied  territory- 
lapses.  We  hold  our  spiritual  gifts  on  the  terms 
of  using  them.  The  practice  of  convictions  deepens 
convictions  ;  not  that  the  exercise  of  Christian  graces 
will  make  theologians,  but  it  will  give  larger  posses- 
sion of  the  knowledge  which  is  life. 

/While  this  general  principle  is  abundantly  enforced 
in  Scripture  and  confirmed  by  experience,  the  specific 
form  of  it  here  is  that  the  right  administration  of 
wealth  is  a  direct  means  of  increasing  a  Christian's 
possession  of  the  large  store  treasured  in  Christ. 
Every  loving  thought  towards  the  sorrowful  and  the 
needy,  every  touch  of  sympathy  yielded  to,  and 
every  kindly.  Christlike  deed  flowing  from  these, 
thins  away  some  film  of  the  barriers  between  the 
believing  soul  and  a  full  possession  of  God,  and  thus 
makes  it  more  capable  of  beholding  Him  and  of 
rising  to  communion  with  Him.  The  possibilities 
of  wealth  lie,  not  only  in  the  direction  of  earthly 
advantages,  but  in  the  fact  that  men  may  so  use  it 
as  to  secure  their  being  "  received  into  everlasting 
habitations."  Modern  evangelical  teachers  have  been 
afraid  to  say  what  Paul  ventured  to  say  on  this 
matter,  for  fear  of  obscuring  the  truth  which  Paul 
gave  his  life  to  preach/  Surely  they  need  not  be 
more  jealous  for  the  doctrine  of  "justification  by 
faith  "  than  he  was  ;  and  if  he  had  no  scruples  in 
telling  rich  men  to  "  lay  up  in  store  for  themselves 
a  good  foundation  for  the  time  to  come,"  by  being 
"  ready  to  communicate,"  they  may  safely  follow. 
There  is  probably  no  more  powerful  cause  of  the 
comparative  feebleness  of  average  English  Chris- 
tianity than  the  selfish  use  of  money,  and  no  surer 


444  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

means  of  securing  a  great  increase  in  the  depth  and 
richness  of  the  individual  Christian  Hfe  than  the 
fuller  application  of  Christian  principle,  that  is,  of 
the  law  of  sacrifice,  to  the  administration  of  property. 

The  final  clause  of  the  verse  seems  to  state  the 
condition  on  which  Philemon's  good  deeds  will  avail 
for  his  own  growth  in  grace,  and  implies  that  in  him 
that  condition  is  fulfilled.  If  a  man  does  deeds  of 
kindness  and  help  to  one  of  these  little  ones,  as 
"  unto  Christ,"  then  his  beneficence  will  come  back 
in  spiritual  blessing  on  his  own  head.  If  they  are 
the  result  of  simple  natural  compassion,  beautiful  as 
it  is,  they  will  reinforce  //,  but  have  no  tendency  to 
strengthen  that  from  which  they  do  not  flow.  If 
they  are  tainted  by  any  self-regard,  then  they  are 
not  charitable  deeds  at  all.  What  is  done  for  Christ 
will  bring  to  the  doer  more  of  Christ  as  its  con- 
sequence and  reward.  All  life,  with  all  its  varied 
forms  of  endurance  and  service,  comes  under  this 
same  law,  and  tends  to  make  more  assured  and  more 
blessed  and  more  profound  the  knowledge  and  grasp 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ,  in  the  measure  in  which  it  is 
directed  to  Him,  and  done  or  suffered  for  His  sake. 

III.  The  present  section  closes  with  a  very  sweet 
and  pathetic  representation  of  the  Apostle's  joy  in 
the  character  of  his  friend. 

The  "  for  "  of  v.  7  connects  not  with  the  words  of 
petition  immediately  before,  but  with  "  I  thank  my 
God"  {y.  4),  and  gives  a  graceful  turn — graceful 
only  because  so  unforced  and  true — to  the  sentence. 
"  My  thanks  are  due  to  you  for  your  kindness  to 
others,  for,  though  you  did  not  think  of  it,  you  have 
done  me  as  much  good  as  you  did  them."  The 
"  love"  which  gives  Paul  such  "  great  joy  and  consol* 


Philem.  4-7.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  445 

ation"  is  not  love  directed  to  himself,  but  to  others  ; 
and  the  reason  why  it  gladdened  the  Apostle  was 
because  it  had  "refreshed  the  hearts"  of  sorrowful 
and  needy  saints  in  Colossae.  This  tender  ex- 
pression of  affectionate  joy  in  Philemon's  good  deeds 
is  made  wonderfully  emotional  by  that  emphatic 
"  brother "  which  ends  the  verse,  and  by  its  unusual 
position  in  the  sentence  assumes  the  character  of 
a  sudden,  irrepressible  shoot  of  love  from  Paul's 
heart  towards  Philemon,  like  the  quick  impulse  with 
which  a  mother  will  catch  up  her  child,  and  cover  it 
with  caresses.  Paul  was  never  ashamed  of  showing 
his  tenderness,  and  it  never  repels  us. 

These  final  words  suggest  the  unexpected  good 
which  good  deeds  may  do.  No  man  can  ever  tell 
how  far  the  blessing  of  his  trivial  acts  of  kindness, 
or  other  pieces  of  Christian  conduct,  may  travel. 
They  may  benefit  one  in  material  fashion,  but  the 
fragrance  may  reach  many  others.  Philemon  little 
dreamed  that  his,  small  charity  to  some  suffering 
brother  in  Colossae  would  find  its  way  across  the  sea, 
and  bring  a  waft  of  coolness  and  refreshing  into  the 
hot  prison  house.  Neither  Paul  nor  Philemon 
dreamed  that,  made  immortal  by  the  word  of  the 
former,  the  same  transient  act  would  find  its  way 
across  the  centuries,  and  would  "  smell  sweet  and 
blossom  in  the  dust "  to-day.  Men  know  not  who 
are  their  audiences,  or  who  may  be  spectators  of 
their  works  ;  for  they  are  all  bound  so  mystically  and 
closely  together,  that  none  can  tell  how  far  the 
vibrations  which  he  sets  in  motion  will  thrill.  This 
is  true  about  all  deeds,  good  and  bad,  and  invests 
them  all  with  solemn  importance.  The  arrow  shot 
travels   beyond   the   archer's   eye,   and    may   wound 


446  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

where  he  knows  not.  The  only  thing  certain  about 
the  deed  once  done  is,  that  its  irrevocable  consequences 
will  reach  much  farther  than  the  doer  dreamed,  and 
that  no  limits  can  be  set  to  the  subtle  influence 
which,  for  blessing  or  harm,  it  exerts. 

Since  the  diameter  of  the  circle  which  our  acts 
may  fill  is  unknown  and  unknowable,  the  doer  who 
stands  at  the  centre  is  all  the  more  solemnly  bound 
to  make  sure  of  the  only  thing  of  which  he  can 
make  sure,  the  quality  of  the  influence  sent  forth  ; 
and  since  his  deed  may  blight  or  bless  so  widely,  to 
clarify  his  motives  and  guard  his  doings,  that  they 
may  bring  only  good  wherever  they  light.  ^ 

May  we  not  venture  to  see  shining  through  the 
Apostle's  words  the  Master's  face  ?  "  Even  as  Christ 
did  for  us  with  God  the  Father,"  says  Luther,  "  thus 
also  doth  St.  Paul  for  Onesimus  with  Philemon  "  ; 
and  that  thought  may  permissibly  be  applied  to 
many  parts  of  this  letter,  to  which  it  gives  much 
beauty.  It  may  not  be  all  fanciful  to  say  that,  as 
Paul's  heart  was  gladdened  when  he  heard  of  the 
good  deeds  done  in  far-off  Colossae  by  a  man  who 
"  owed  to  him  his  own  self,"  so  we  may  believe  that 
Christ  is  glad  and  has  *^  great  joy  in  our  love"  to 
His  servants  and  in  our  kindliness,  when  He  beholds 
the  poor  work  done  by  the  humblest  for  His  sake. 
He  sees  and  rejoices,  and  approves  when  there  are 
none  but  Himself  to  know  or  praise  ;  and  at  last 
many,  who  did  lowly  service  to  His  friends,  will  be 
surprised  to  hear  from  His  lips  the  acknowledgment 
that  it  was  Himself  whom  they  had  visited  and 
succoured,  and  that  they  had  been  ministering  to  the 
Master's  joy  when  the]^  had  only  known  themselves 
to  be  succouring  His  servants'  need. 


III. 

•*  Wherefore,  thougli  I  have  all  boldness  in  Christ  to  enjoin  thee  that 
vhich  is  befitting,  yet  for  love's  sake  I  rather  beseech,  being  such  a  one 
as  Paul  the  aged,  and  now  a  prisoner  also  of  Jesus  Christ ;  I  beseech 
thee  for  my  child,  whom  I  have  begotten  in  my  bonds,  Onesimus  ;  who 
was  aforetime  unprofitable  to  thee,  but  now  is  profitable  to  thee,  and  to 
me,"— Philem.  8-ii  (Rev.  Ver.). 

AFTER  honest  and  affectionate  praise  of  Phile- 
mon, the  Apostle  now  approaches  the  main 
purpose  of  his  letter.  But  even  now  he  does  not 
blurt  it  out  at  once.  He  probably  anticipated  that 
his  friend  was  justly  angry  with  his  runaway  slave, 
and  therefore,  in  these  verses,  he  touches  a  kind  of 
prelude  to  his  request  with  what  we  should  call  the 
finest  tact,  if  it  were  not  so  manifestly  the  uncon- 
scious product  of  simple  good  feeling.  Even  by 
the  end  of  them  he  has  not  ventured  to  say  what  he 
wishes  done,  though  he  has  ventured  to  introduce 
the  obnoxious  name.  So  much  persuading  and 
sanctified  ingenuity  does  it  sometimes  take  to  induce 
good  men  to  do  plain  duties  which  may  be  unwel- 
come. 

These  verses  not  only  present  a  model  for  efforts 
to  lead  men  in  right  paths,  but  they  unveil  the  very 
spirit  of  Christianity  in  their  pleadings.  Paul's 
persuasives  to  Philemon  are  echoes  of  Christ's 
persuasives  to  Paul.  He  had  learned  his  method 
from  his  Master,  and  had  himself  experienced  that 


448  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PIHLEMOA. 

gentle  love  was  more  than  commandments.  There- 
fore he  softens  his  voice  to  speak  to  Philemon,  as 
Christ  had  softened  His  to  speak  to  Paul.  We  do 
not  arbitarily  "  spiritualize "  the  words,  but  simply 
recognise  that  the  Apostle  moulded  his  conduct 
after  Christ's  pattern,  when  we  see  here  a  mirror 
reflecting  some  of  the  highest  truths  of  Christian 
ethics. 

I.  Here  is  seen  love  which  beseeches  where  it 
might  command.  The  first  word,  "wherefore," 
leads  back  to  the  preceding  sentence,  and  makes 
Philemon's  past  kindness  to  the  saints  the  reason 
for  his  being  asked  to  be  kind  now.  The  Apostle's 
confidence  in  his  friend's  character,  and  in  his  being 
amenable  to  the  appeal  of  love,  made  Paul  waive  his 
apostolic  authority,  and  sue  instead  of  commanding. 
There  are  people,  like  the  horse  and  the  mule,  who 
understand  only  rough  imperatives,  backed  by  force  ; 
but  they  are  fewer  than  we  are  apt  to  think,  and 
perhaps  gentleness  is  never  wholly  thrown  away. 
No  doubt,  there  must  be  adaptation  of  method  to 
different  characters,  but  we  should  try  gentleness 
before  we  make  up  our  minds  that  to  try  it  is  to 
throw  pearls  before  swine\ 

The  careful  limits  put  to  apostolic  authority  here 
deserve  notice.  "  I  might  be  much  bold  in  Christ  to 
command."  He  has  no  authority  in  himself,  but  he 
has  "  in  Christ."  His  own  personality  gives  him 
none,  but  his  relation  to  his  Master  does.  It  is  a 
distinct  assertion  of  right  to  command,  and  an 
equally  distinct  repudiation  of  any  such  right,  except 
as  derived  from  his  union  with  Jesus. 

He  still  further  limits  his  authority  by  that  note- 
worthy   clause,    "  that    which    is    befitting."       His 


Pliilem.8-ii.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  449 

authority  does  not  stretch  so  far  as  to  create  new 
obligations,  or  to  repeal  plain  laws  of  duty.  There 
was  a  standard  by  which  his  commands  were  to  be 
tried.  He  appeals  to  Philemon's  own  sense  of  moral 
fitness,  to  his  natural  conscience,  enlightened  by 
communion  with  Christ. 

Then  comes  the  great  motive  which  he  will  urge, 
"  for  love's  sake  " — not  merely  his  to  Philemon,  nor 
Philemon's   to  him,  but  the  bond  which  unites  all 
Christian    souls    together,    and    binds    them    all    to 
Christ.     "That  grand,  sacred  principle,"   says  Paul, 
"  bids  me  put  away  authority,  and  speak  in  entreaty." 
;Love  naturally  beseeches,  and  does  not  order.      The 
harsh  voice  of  command  is  simply  the  imposition  of 
another's   will,   and    it   belongs    to   relationships    in 
which  the   heart  has  no  share.      But  wherever  love 
is  the  bond,  grace  is  poured  into  the  lips,  and  "  I 
enjoin  "  becomes  "  I  pray."     So  that  even  where  the 
outward    form    of   authority   is    still    kept,   as    in   a 
parent   to  young  children,  there  will  ever  be  some 
endearing  word   to  swathe  the  harsh  imperative  in 
tenderness,  like  a  sword  blade  wrapped   about  with 
wool,  lest  it  should  wound.      Love  tends  to  obliterate 
the  hard  distinction  of  superior  and  inferior,  which 
finds  its  expression  in  laconic  imperatives  and  silent 
obedience.      It  seeks  not  for  mere  compliance  with 
commands,  but  for  oneness  of  will.       The  lightest 
wish  breathed  by  loved  lips  is  stronger  than  all  stern 
injunctions,  often,  alas !  than  all  laws  of  duty.     The 
heart  is  so  tuned  as  only  to  vibrate  to  that  one  tone. 
The  rocking  stones,  which  all  the  storms  of  winter 
may  howl  round  and  not  move,  can  be  set  swinging 
by  a  light  touch.     Una  leads  the  lion  in  a  silken 
leash.       Love    controls    the    wildest    nature.       The 

29 


450  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

demoniac,  whom  no  chains  can  bind,  is  found  sitting 
at  the  feet  of  incarnate  gentleness.  So  the  wish 
of  love  is  all-powerful  with  loving  hearts,  and  its 
faintest  whisper  louder  and  more  constraining  than 
all  the  trumpets  of  Sinai. 

There  is  a  large  lesson  here  for  all  human  rela- 
tionships. Fathers  and  mothers,  husbands  and 
wives,  friends  and  companions,  teachers  and  guides 
of  all  sorts,  should  set  their  conduct  by  this  pattern, 
and  let  the  law  of  love  sit  ever  upon  their  lips. 
VAuthority  is  the  weapon  of  a  weak  man,  who  is 
doubtful  of  his  own  power  to  get  himself  obeyed,  or 
of  a  selfish  one,  who  seeks  for  mechanical  submission 
rather  than  for  the  fealty  of  willing  hearts.  Love  is 
the  weapon  of  a  strong  man  who  can  cast  aside  the 
trappings  of  superiority,  and  is  never  loftier  than 
when  he  descends,  nor  more  absolute  than  when 
he  abjures  authority,  and  appeals  with  love  to 
love.  Men  are  not  to  be  dragooned  into  goodness. 
If  mere  outward  acts  are  sought,  it  may  be  enough 
to  impose  another's  will  in  orders  as  curt  as  a 
soldier's  word  of  command  ;  but  if  the  joyful  inclina- 
tion of  the  heart  to  the  good  deed  is  to  be  secured, 
that  can  only  be  done  when  law  melts  into  love,  and  is 
thereby  transformed  to  a  more  imperative  obligation, 
written  not  on  tables  of  stone,  but  on  fleshy  tables  of 
the  heart.^ 

There  is  a  glimpse  here  into  the  very  heart  of 
Christ's  rule  over  men.  He  too  does  not  merely 
impose  commands,  but  stoops  to  entreat,  where  He 
indeed  might  command.  "  Henceforth  I  call  you 
not  servants,  but  friends  "  ;  and  though  He  does  go 
on  to  say,  "  Ye  are  My  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I 
command  you,"  yet  His  commandment  has  in  it  so 


Philem.8-ii.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  451 

much  tenderness,  condescension,  and  pleading  love, 
that  it  sounds  far  liker  beseeching  than  enjoining. 
His  yoke  is  easy,  for  this  among  other  reasons,  that 
it  is,  if  one  may  so  say,  padded  with  love.  His 
burden  is  light,  because  it  is  laid  on  His  servant's 
shoulders  by  a  loving  hand  ;  and  so,  as  St.  Bernard 
says,  it  is  onus  quod  portantem  portat^  a  burden  which 
carries  him  who  carries  it. 

n.  There  is  in  these  verses  the  appeal  which 
gives  weight  to  the  entreaties  of  love.  The  Apostle 
brings  personal  considerations  to  bear  on  the  en- 
forcement of  impersonal  duty,  and  therein  follows 
the  example  of  his  Lord.  He  presents  his  own  cir- 
cumstances as  adding  power  to  his  request,  and  as  it 
were  puts  himself  into  the  scale.  He  touches  with 
singular  pathos  on  two  things  which  should  sway 
his  friend.  "  Such  a  one  as  Paul  the  aged."  The 
alternative  rendering  "  ambassador,"  while  quite  pos- 
sible, has  not  congruity  in  its  favour,  and  would  be 
a  recurrence  to  that  very  motive  of  official  authority 
which  he  has  just  disclaimed.  The  other  rendering 
is  every  way  preferable.  How  old  was  he  ?  Pro- 
bably somewhere  about  sixty — not  a  very  great  age, 
but  life  was  somewhat  shorter  then  than  now,  and 
Paul  was,  no  doubt,  aged  by  work,  by  worry,  and  by 
the  unresting  spirit  that  "  o'er-informed  his  tenement 
of  clay."  Such  temperaments  as  his  soon  grow  old. 
Perhaps  Philemon  was  not  much  younger ;  but  the 
prosperous  Colossian  gentleman  had  had  a  smoother 
life,  and,  no  doubt,  carried  his  years  more  lightly. 

The  requests  of  old  age  should  have  weight.  In 
our  days,  what  with  the  improvements  in  education, 
and  the  general  loosening  of  the  bonds  of  reverence, 
the  old  maxim  that  "  the  utmost  respect  is  due  to 


452  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

children,"  receives  a  strange  interpretation,  and  in 
many  a  household  the  Divine  order  is  turned  upside 
down,  and  the  juniors  regulate  all  things.  Other 
still  more  sacred  things  will  be  likely  to  lose  their 
due  reverence  when  silver  hairs  no  longer  receive 
theirs. 

But  usually  the  aged  who  are  "  such "  aged  "  as 
Paul  "  was,  will  not  fail  of  obtaining  honour  and 
deference.  No  more  beautiful  picture  of  the  bright 
energy  and  freshness  still  possible  to  the  old  was 
ever  painted  than  may  be  gathered  from  the 
Apostle's  unconscious  sketch  of  himself.  He  de- 
lighted in  having  young  life  about  him — Timothy, 
Titus,  Mark,  and  others,  boys  in  comparison  with 
himself,  whom  yet  he  admitted  to  close  intimacy, 
as  some  old  general  might  the  youths  of  his  staff, 
warming  his  age  at  the  genial  flame  of  their  growing 
energies  and  unworn  hopes.  His  was  a  joyful  old 
age  too,  notwithstanding  many  burdens  of  anxiety 
and  sorrow.  We  hear  the  clear  song  of  his  gladness 
ringing  through  the  epistle  of  joy,  that  to  the  Philip- 
pians,  which,  like  this,  dates  from  his  Roman  captivity. 
A  Christian  old  age  should  be  joyful,  and  only  it  will 
be  ;  for  the  joys  of  the  natural  life  burn  low,  when 
the  fuel  that  fed  them  is  nearly  exhausted,  and 
withered  hands  are  held  in  vain  over  the  dying 
embers.  But  Christ's  joy  "  remains,"  and  a  Christian 
old  age  may  be  like  the  polar  midsummer  days, 
when  the  sun  shines  till  midnight,  and  dips  but  for 
an  imperceptible  interval  ere  it  rises  for  the  unending 
day  of  heaven. 

Paul  the  aged  was  full  of  interest  in  the  things  of 
the  day  ;  no  mere  "  praiser  of  time  gone  by,"  but  a 
strenuous  worker,  cherishing  a  quick  sympathy  and 


Philem.8-ii.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  453 

an  eager  interest  which  kept  him  young  to  the  end. 
Witness  that  last  chapter  of  the  second  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  where  he  is  seen,  in  the  immediate  ex- 
pectation of  death,  entering  heartily  into  passing 
trifles,  and  thinking  it  worth  while  to  give  little 
pieces  of  information  about  the  movements  of  his 
friends,  and  wishful  to  get  his  books  and  parchments, 
that  he  might  do  some  more  work  while  waiting  for 
the  headsman's  sword.  And  over  his  cheery,  sym- 
pathetic, busy  old  age  there  is  thrown  the  light  of  a 
great  hope,  which  kindles  desire  and  onward  looks  in 
his  dim  eyes,  and  parts  "  such  a  one  as  Paul  the 
aged  "  by  a  whole  universe  from  the  old  whose  future 
is  dark  and  their  past  dreary,  whose  hope  is  a 
phantom  and  their  memory  a  pang. 

The  Apostle  adds  yet  another  personal  characteristic 
as  a  motive  with  Philemon  to  grant  his  request : 
"  Now  a  prisoner  also  of  Christ  Jesus."  He  has 
already  spoken  of  himself  in  these  terms  in  v,  i. 
His  sufferings  were  imposed  by  and  endured  for 
Christ.  He  holds  up  his  fettered  wrist,  and  in  effect 
says,  "  Surely  you  will  not  refuse  anything  that  you 
can  do  to  wrap  a  silken  softness  round  the  cold,  hard 
iron,  especially  when  you  remember  for  Whose  sake 
and  by  Whose  will  I  am  bound  with  this  chain." 
He  thus  brings  personal  motives  to  reinforce  duty 
which  is  binding  from  other  and  higher  consider- 
ations. He  does  not  merely  tell  Philemon  that  he 
ought  to  take  back  Onesimus  as  a  piece  of  self- 
sacrificing  Christian  duty.  He  does  imply  that 
highest  motive  throughout  his  pleadings,  and  urges 
that  such  action  is  "  fitting  "  or  in  consonance  with 
the  position  and  obligations  of  a  Christian  man. 
But    he    backs    up    this  highest  reason   with    these 


454  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 


others  :  "If  j^ou  hesitate  to  take  him  back  because 
you  ought,  will  you  do  it  because  I  ask  you  ?  and, 
before  you  answer  that  question,  will  you  remember 
my  age,  and  what  I  am  bearing  for  the  Master  ? " 
If  he  can  get  his  friend  to  do  the  right  thing  by  the 
help  of  these  subsidiary  motives,  still,  it  is  the  right 
thing  ;  and  the  appeal  to  these  motives  will  do  Phile- 
mon no  harm,  and,  if  successful,  will  do  both  him 
and  Onesimus  a  great  deal  of  good. 

Does  not  this  action  of  Paul  remind  us  of  the 
highest  example  of  a  similar  use  of  motives  of 
personal  attachment  as  aids  to  duty  ?  Christ  does 
thus  with  His  servants.  He  does  not  simply  hold 
up  before  us  a  cold  law  of  duty,  but  warms  it  by 
introducing  our  personal  relation  to  Him  as  the  main 
motive  for  keeping  it.  ^  Apart  from  Him,  Morality 
can  only  point  to  the  tables  of  stone  and  say : 
"  There !  that  is  what  you  ought  to  do.  Do  it,  or 
face  the  consequences."  But  Christ  says  :  "  I  have 
given  Myself  for  you.  My  will  is  your  law.  Will 
you  do  it  for  My  sake  t  "  Instead  of  the  chilling, 
statuesque  ideal,  as  pure  as  marble  and  as  cold,  a 
Brother  stands  before  us  with  a  heart  that  beats,  a 
smile  on  His  face,  a  hand  outstretched  to  help  ;  and 
His  word  is,  "  If  ye  love  Me,  keep  My  command- 
ments." The  specific  difference  of  Christian  morality 
lies  not  in  its  precepts,  but  in  its  motive,  and  in  its 
gift  of  power  to  obey.  Paul  could  only  urge  regard 
to  him  as  a  subsidiary  inducement.  Christ  puts  it 
as  the  chief,  nay,  as  the  sole  motive  for  obedience. 

III.  The  last  point  suggested  by  these  verses  is 
the  gradual  opening  up  of  the  main  subject  matter 
of  the  Apostle's  request.  Very  noteworthy  is  the 
tenderness  of  the  description  of  the  fugitive  as  "  my 


( 


Philem.8-ii.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  455 

child,  whom  I  have  begotten  in  my  bonds."  Paul 
does  not  venture  to  name  him  at  once,  but  prepares 
the  way  by  the  warmth  of  this  affectionate  reference. 
The  position  of  the  name  in  the  sentence  is  most 
unusual,  and  suggests  a  kind  of  hesitation  to  take 
the  plunge,  while  the  hurried  passing  on  to  meet  the 
objection  which  he  knew  would  spring  immediately 
to  Philemon's  mind  is  almost  as  if  Paul  laid  his 
hand  on  his  friend's  lips  to  stop  his  words, — 
"  Onesimus  then  is  it  ?  that  good-for-nothing  !  "  Paul 
admits  the  indictment,  will  say  no  word  to  mitigate 
the  condemnation  due  to  his  past  worthlessness,  but, 
with  a  playful  allusion  to  the  slave's  name,  which 
conceals  his  deep  earnestness,  assures  Philemon  that 
he  will  find  the  formerly  inappropriate  name, 
Onesimus — i.e.  profitable — true  yet,  for  all  that  is 
past.  He  is  sure  of  this,  because  he,  Paul,  has 
proved  his  value.  Surely  never  were  the  natural 
feelings  of  indignation  and  suspicion  more  skilfully 
soothed,  and  never  did  repentant  good-for-nothing 
get  sent  back  to  regain  the  confidence  which  he 
had  forfeited,  with  such  a  certificate  of  character  in 
his  hand  ! 

But  there  is  something  of  more  importance  than 
Paul's  inborn  delicacy  and  tact  to  notice  here. 
Onesimus  had  been  a  bad  specimen  of  a  bad  class. 
Slavery  must  needs  corrupt  both  the  owner  and  the 
chattel ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  classical 
allusions  enough  to  show  that  the  slaves  of  Paul's 
period  were  deeply  tainted  with  the  characteristic 
vices  of  their  condition.  Liars,  thieves,  idle,  treacher- 
ous, nourishing  a  hatred  of  their  masters  all  the  more 
deadly  that  it  was  smothered,  but  ready  to  flame 
out,  if  opportunity  served,  in  blood-curdling  cruelties 


456  THE  EFISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

— they  constituted  an  ever-present  danger,  and 
needed  an  ever-wakeful  watchfulness.")  Dnesimus 
had  been  known  to  Philemon  only  as  one  of  the 
idlers  who  were  more  of  a  nuisance  than  a  benefit, 
and  cost  more  than  they  earned  ;  and  he  apparently 
ended  his  career  by  theft.  And  this  degraded 
creature,  with  scars  on  his  soul  deeper  and  worse 
than  the  marks  of  fetters  on  his  limbs,  had  somehow 
found  his  way  to  the  great  jungle  of  a  city,  where  all 
foul  vermin  could  crawl  and  hiss  and  sting  with  com- 
parative safety.  There  he  had  somehow  come  across 
the  Apostle,  and  had  received  into  his  heart,  filled 
with  ugly  desires  and  lusts,  the  message  of  Christ's 
love,  which  had  swept  it  clean,  and  made  him  over 
again.  The  Apostle  has  had  but  short  experience 
of  his  convert,  but  he  is  quite  sure  that  he  is  a 
Christian  ;  and,  that  being  the  case,  he  is  as  sure 
that  all  the  bad  black  past  is  buried,  and  that  the 
new  leaf  now  turned  over  will  be  covered  with  fair 
writing,  not  in  the  least  like  the  blots  that  were  on 
the  former  page,  and  have  now  been  dissolved  from 
off  it,  by  the  touch  of  Christ's  blood. 

It  is  a  typical  instance  of  the  miracles  which  the 
gospel  wrought  as  every-day  events  in  its  trans- 
forming career.  Christianity  knows  nothing  of 
hopeless  cases.  It  professes  its  ability  to  take  the 
most  crooked  stick  and  bring  it  straight,  to  flash  a 
new  power  into  the  blackest  carbon,  which  will  turn 
it  into  a  diamond.  Every  duty  will  be  done  better 
by  a  man  if  he  have  the  love  and  grace  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  his  heart.  New  motives  are  brought  into 
play,  new  powers  are  given,  new  standards  of  duty 
are  set  up.  The  small  tasks  become  great,  and  the 
unwelcome  sweet,  and  the  difficult  easy,  when   done 


Philem.  8-II.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  457 

for  and  through  Christ.  Old  vices  are  crushed  in  their 
deepest  source  ;  old  habits  driven  out  by  the  force 
of  a  new  affection,  as  the  young  leaf-buds  push  the 
withered  foliage  from  the  tree.  Christ  can  make 
any  man  over  again,  and  does  so  re-create  every 
heart  that  trusts  to  him.  Such  miracles  of  trans- 
formation are  wrought  to'-day  as  truly  as  of  old? 
Many  professing  Christians  experience  little  of  that 
quickening  and  revolutionising  energy ;  many  ob- 
servers see  little  of  it,  and  some  begin  to  croak,  as 
if  the  old  power  had  ebbed  away.  .  But  wherever 
men  give  the  gospel  fair  play  in  their  lives,  and 
open  their  spirits,  in  truth  and  not  merely  in  pro- 
fession, to  its  influence,  it  vindicates  its  undiminished 
possession  of  all  its  former  energy  ;  and  if  ever 
it  seems  to  fail,  it  is  not  that  the  medicine  is 
ineffectual,  JDut  that  the  sick  man  has  not  really 
taken  it.  The  low  tone  of  much  modern  Chris- 
tianity and  its  dim  exhibition  of  the  transforming 
power  of  the  gospel  is  easily  and  sadly  accounted 
for  without  charging  decrepitude  on  that  which  was 
once  so  mighty,  by  the  patent  fact  that  much 
modern  Christianity  is  little  better  than  lip  acknow- 
ledgment, and  that  much  more  of  it  is  wofully 
unfamiliar  with  the  truth  which  it  in  some  fashion 
believes,  and  is  sinfully  negligent  of  the  spiritual 
gifts  which  it  professes  to  treastire.  If  a  Christian 
man  does  not  show  that  his  religion  is  changing 
him  into  the  fair  likeness  of  his  Master,  and  fitting 
him  for  all  relations  of  life,  the  reason  is  simply  that 
he  has  so  little  of  it,  and  that  little  so  mechanical 
and  tepid. 

Paul    pleads    with    Philemon    to    take    back    his 
worthless  servant,  and  assures  him  that  he  will  find 


458  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

Onesimus  helpful  now.  Christ  does  not  need  to  be 
besought  to  welcome  His  runaway  good-for-nothings, 
however  unprofitable  they  have  been.  That  Divine 
charity  of  His  forgives  all  things,  and  "hopes  all 
things  "  of  the  worst,  and  can  fulfil  its  own  hope  in 
the  most  degraded.  With  bright,  unfaltering  confi- 
dence in  His  own  power  He  fronts  the  most  evil, 
sure  that  He  can  cleanse ;  and  that,  no  matter 
what  the  past  has  been,  ^is  power  can  overcome 
all  defects  of  character,  education,  or  surroundings, 
can  set  free  from  all  moral  disadvantages  adhering 
to  men's  station,  class,  or  calling,  can  break  the 
entail  of  sin.  The  worst  needs  no  intercessor  to 
sway  that  tender  heart  of  our  great  Master  whom 
we  may  dimly  see  shadowed  in  the  very  name  of 
"  Philemon,"  which  means  one  who  is  loving  or 
kindly.  Whoever  confesses  to  him  that  he  has 
"  been  an  unprofitable  servant,"  will  be  welcomed  to 
His  heart,  made  pure  and  good  by  the  Divine  Spirit 
breathing  new  life  into  him,  will  be  trained  by  Christ 
for  all  joyful  toil  as  His  slave,  and  yet  His  freedman 
and  friend ;  and  at  last  each  once  fugitive  and 
unprofitable  Onesimus  will  hear  the  "Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant ! " 


IV. 

*•  Whore  I  have  sent  back  to  thee  in  his  own  person,  that  is,  my 
very  heart ;  whom  I  would  fain  have  kept  with  me,  that  in  my  behalf 
he  might  minister  unto  me  in  the  bonds  of  the  gospel :  but  without  thy 
mind  I  would  do  nothing ;  that  thy  goodness  should  not  -be  as  of 
necessity,  but  of  free  will." — Philem,  12-14  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THE  characteristic  features  of  the  Epistle  are  all 
embodied  in  these  verses.  They  set  forth,  in 
the  most  striking  manner,  the  relation  of  Christianity 
to  slavery  and  to  other  social  evils.  They  afford 
an  exquisite  example  of  the  courteous  delicacy  and 
tact  of  the  Apostle's  intervention  on  behalf  of 
Onesimus  ;  and  there  shine  through  them,  as  through 
a  semi-transparent  medium,  adumbrations  and  shim- 
mering hints  of  the  greatest  truths  of  Christianity. 
I.  The  first  point  to  notice  is  that  decisive  step 
of  sending  back  the  fugitive  slave.  Not  many 
years  ago  the  conscience  of  England  was  stirred 
because  the  Government  of  the  day  sent  out  a 
circular  instructing  captains  of  men-of-war,  on  the 
decks  of  which  fugitive  slaves  sought  asylum,  to 
restore  them  to  their  "  owners."  Here  an  Apostle 
does  the  same  thing — seems  to  side  with  the 
oppressor,  and  to  drive  the  oppressed  from  the  sole 
refuge  left  him,  the  horns  of  the  very  altar.  More 
extraordinary  still,  here  is  the  fugitive  voluntarily 
going  back,  travelling  all  the  weary  way  from  Rome 
to   Colossae    in   order  to   put   his   neck   once   more 


46o  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

beneath  the  yoke.  Both  men  were  acting  from 
Christian  motives,  and  thought  that  they  were  doing 
a  piece  of  plain  Christian  duty,  j'  Then  does  Chris- 
tianity sanction  slavery  ?  Certainly  not  ;  its  prin- 
ciples cut  it  up  by  the  roots.  A  gospel,  of  which 
the  starting-point  is  that  all  men  stand  on  the  same 
level,  as  loved  by  the  one  Lord,  and  redeemed  by 
the  one  cross,  can  have  no  place  for  such  an 
institution.  A  religion  which  attaches  the  highest 
importance  to  man's  awful  prerogative  of  freedom, 
because  it  insists  on  every  man's  individual  respon- 
sibility to  God,  can  keep  no  terms  with  a  system 
which  turns  men  into  chattels.  Therefore  Christian- 
ity cannot  but  regard  slavery  as  sin  against  God, 
and  as  treason  towards  man.  The  principles  of  the 
gospel  worked  into  the  conscience  of  a  nation 
destroy  slavery.  Historically  it  is  true  that  as 
Christianity  has  grown  slavery  has  withered.  But 
the  New  Testament  never  directly  condemns  it,  and 
by  regulating  the  conduct  of  Christian  masters,  and 
recognising  the  obligations  of  Christian  slaves,  seems 
to  contemplate  its  continuance,  and  to  be  deaf  to  the 
sighing  of  the  captives. 

This  attitude  was  probably  not  a  piece  of  policy 
or  a  matter  of  calculated  wisdom  on  the  part  of 
the  Apostle.  He  no  doubt  saw  that  the  Gospel 
brought  a  great  unity  in  which  all  distinctions  were 
merged,  and  rejoiced  in  thinking  that  "  in  Christ 
Jesus  there  is  neither  bond  or  free  "  ;  but  whether 
he  expected  the  distinction  ever  to  disappear  from 
actual  life  is  less  certain.  He  may  have  thought 
of  slavery  as  he  did  of  sex,  that  the  fact  would 
remain,  while  yet  "  we  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus." 
It  is  by  no   means  necessary  to  suppose  that  the 


Philem.  12-14.]     TFIE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  461 

Apostles  saw  the  full  bearing  of  the  truths  they  had 
to  preach,  in  their  relation  to  social  conditions. 
They  were  inspired  to  give  the  Church  the  principles. 
It  remained  for  future  ages,  under  Divine  guidance, 
to  apprehend  the  destructive  and  formative  range  of 
these  principles. 

However  this  may  be,  the  attitude  of  the  New 
Testament  to  slavery  is  the  same  as  to  other  un- 
christian institutions.  It  brings  the  leaven,  and  lets 
it  work.  That  attitude  is  determined  by  three  great 
principles.  First,  the  message  of  Christianity  is 
primarily  to  individuals,  and  only  secondarily  to 
society.  It  leaves  the  units  whom  it  has  influenced 
to  influence  the  mass.  Second,  it  acts  on  spiritual 
and  moral  sentiment,  and  only  afterwards  and 
consequently  on  deeds  or  institutions.  Third,  it 
hates  violence,  and  trusts  wholly  to  enlightened 
conscience.  So  it  meddles  directly  with  no  political 
or  social  arrangements,  but  lays  down  principles 
which  will  profoundly  affect  these,  and  leaves  them 
to  soak  into  the  general  mind.  If  an  evil  needs 
force  for  its  removal,  it  is  not  ready  for  removal. 
If  it  has  to  be  pulled  up  by  violence,  a  bit  of  the 
root  will  certainly  be  left  and  will  grow  again. 
When  a  dandelion  head  is  ripe,  a  child's  breath  can 
detach  the  winged  seeds  ;  but  until  it  is,  no  tempest 
can  move  them.  The  method  of  violence  is  noisy 
and  wasteful,  like  the  winter  torrents  that  cover  acres 
of  good  ground  with  mud  and  rocks,  and  are  past  in 
a  day.  The  only  true  way  is,  by  slow  degrees  to 
create  a  state  of  feeling  which  shall  instinctively 
abhor  and  cast  off  the  evil.  Then  there  will  be  no 
hubbub  and  no  waste,  and  the  thing  once  done  will 
be  done  for  ever. 


462  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

So  has  it  been  with  slavery  ;  so  will  it  be  with 
war,  and  intemperance,  and  impurity,  and  the 
miserable  anomalies  of  our  present  civilization.  It 
has  taken  eighteen  hundred  years  for  the  whole 
Church  to  learn  the  inconsistency  of  Christianity 
with  slavery.  We  are  no  quicker  learners  than  the 
past  generations  were.  God  is  patient,  and  does 
not  seek  to  hurry  the  march  of  His  purposes.  We 
have  to  be  imitators  of  God,  and  shun  the  "  raw 
haste  "  which  is  "  half-sister  to  delay." 

But  patience  is  not  passivity.  It  is  a  Christian's 
duty  to  "  hasten  the  day  of  the  Lord,"  and  to  take 
part  in  the  educational  process  which  Christ  is 
carrying  on  through  the  ages,  by  submitting  himself 
to  it  in  the  first  place,  and  then  by  endeavouring  to 
bring  others  under  its  influence.  His  place  should 
be  in  the  van  of  all  social  progress.  It  does  not 
become  Christ's  servants  to  be  content  with  the 
attainments  of  any  past  or  present,  in  the  matter  of 
the  organization  of  society  on  Christian  principles. 
"  God  has  more  light  to  break  forth  from  His  word." 
Coming  centuries  will  look  back  on  the  obtuseness 
of  the  moral  perceptions  of  nineteenth  century 
Christians  in  regard  to  matters  of  Christian  duty 
which,  hidden  from  us,  are  sun-clear  to  them,  with 
the  same  half-amused,  half-tragic  wonder  with  which 
we  look  back  to  Jamaica  planters  or  South  Carolina 
rice  growers,  who  defended  slavery  as  a  missionary 
institution,  and  saw  no  contradiction  between  their 
religion  and  their  practice.  We  have  to  stretch  our 
charity  to  believe  in  these  men's  sincere  religion. 
Succeeding  ages  will  have  to  make  the  same  allow- 
ance for  us,  andf  will  need  it  for  themselves  from 
their  successors.  \^The  main  thing  is,  for  us  to  try  to 


Philem.  12-14.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  463 

keep  our  spirits  open  to  all  the  incidence  of  the 
gospel  on  social  and  civic  life,  and  to  see  that  we 
are  on  the  right  side,  and  trying  to  help  on  the 
approach  of  that  kingdom  which  does  "  not  cry,  nor 
lift  up,  nor  cause  its  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  streets," 
but  has  its  coming  "  prepared  as  the  morning,"  that 
swims  up,  silent  and  slow,  and  flushes  the  heaven 
with  an  unsetting  light? 

II.  The  next  point  in  these  verses  is  Paul's  loving 
identification  of  himself  with  Onesimus. 

The  A.V.  here  follows  another  reading  from  the 
R.V. ;  the  former  has  "  thou  therefore  receive  him, 
that  is,  mine  own  bowels."  The  additional  words 
are  unquestionably  inserted  without  authority  in 
order  to  patch  a  broken  construction.  The  R.V. 
cuts  the  knot  in  a  different  fashion  by  putting  the 
abrupt  words,  "  himself  that  is,  my  very  own  heart," 
under  the  government  of  the  preceding  verb.  But 
it  seems  more  probable  that  the  Apostle  began  a 
new  sentence  with  them,  which  he  meant  to  have 
finished  as  the  A.V.  does  for  him,  but  which,  in  fact, 
got  hopelessly  upset  in  the  swift  rush  of  his  thoughts, 
and  does  not  right  itself  grammatically  till  the 
"  receive  him  "  of  v,  1 7. 

In  any  case  the  main  thing  to  observe  is  the 
affectionate  plea  which  he  puts  in  for  the  cordial 
reception  of  Onesimus.  Of  course  "mine  own 
bowels  "  is  simply  the  Hebrew  way  of  saying  "  mine 
own  heart."  We  think  the  one  phrase  graceful  and 
sentimental,  and  the  other  coarse.  A  Jew  did  not 
think  so,  and  it  might  be  difficult  to  say  why  he 
should.  It  is  a  mere  question  of  difference  in 
localizing  certain  emotions.  Onesimus  was  a  piece 
of  Paul's  vef/  heart,  part  of  himself;  the  unprofitable 


464  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

slave  had  wound  himself  round  his  affections,  and 
become  so  dear  that  to  part  with  him  was  like 
cutting  his  heart  out  of  his  bosom.  Perhaps  some 
of  the  virtues,  which  the  servile  condition  helps  to 
develop  in  undue  proportion,  such  as  docility, 
lightheartedness,  serviceableness,  had  made  him  a 
soothing  and  helpful  companion.  What  a  plea  that 
would  be  with  one  who  loved  Paul  as  well  as 
Philemon  did  !  He  could  not  receive  harshly  one 
whom  the  Apostle  had  so  honoured  with  his  love. 
"  Take  care  of  him,  be  kind  to  him  as  if  it  were 
to  me." 

;  Such  language  from  an  Apostle  about  a  slave 
would  do  more  to  destroy  slavery  than  any  violence 
would  do.  Love  leaps  the  barrier,  and  it  ceases  to 
separate.  So  these  simple,  heart-felt  words  are  an 
instance  of  one  method  by  which  Christianity  wars 
against  all  social  wrongs,  by  casting  its  caressing 
arm  around  the  outcast,  and  showing  that  the  abject 
and  oppressed  are  objects  of  its  special  loveT/^ 

They  teach  too  how  interceding  love  makes  its 
object  part  of  its  very  self ;  the  same  thought  recurs 
still  more  distinctly  in  v,  1 7,  "  Receive  him  as  my- 
self." It  is  the  natural  language  of  love  ;  some  of 
the  deepest  and  most  blessed  Christian  truths  are  but 
the  carrying  out  of  that  identification  to  its  fullest 
extent.  We  are  all  Christ's  Onesimuses,  and  He, 
out  of  His  pure  love,  makes  Himself  one  with  us, 
and  us  one  with  Him.  The  union  of  Christ  with  all 
who  trust  in  Him,  no  doubt,  presupposes  His  Divine 
nature,  but  still  there  is  a  human  side  to  it,  and  it  is 
the  result  of  His  perfect  love.  All  love  delights  to 
fuse  itself  with  its  object,  and  as  far  as  may  be 
to  abolish  the  distinction  of  "  I  "  and  "  thou."     But 


Philem.  12-14-]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  465 

human  love  can  travel  but  a  little  way  on  that  road  ; 
Christ's  goes  much  farther.  He  that  pleads  for  some 
poor  creature  feels  that  the  kindness  is  done  to  him- 
self when  the  former  is  helped  or  pardoned.  Imper- 
fectly but  really  these  words  shadow  forth  the  great 
fact  of  Christ's  intercession  for  us  sinners,  and  our 
acceptance  in  Him.  We  need  no  better  symbol  of 
the  stooping  love  of  Christ,  Who  identifies  Himself 
with  His  brethren,  and  of  our  wondrous  identification 
with  Him,  our  High  Priest  and  Intercessor,  than  this 
picture  of  the  Apostle  pleading  for  the  runaway  and 
bespeaking  a  welcome  for  him  as  part  of  himself. 
When  Paul  says,  "  Receive  him,  that  is,  my  very 
heart,"  his  words  remind  us  of  the  yet  more  blessed 
ones,  which  reveal  a  deeper  love  and  more  marvel- 
lous condescension,  "  He  that  receiveth  you  receiveth 
Me,"  and  may  reverently  be  taken  as  a  faint  shadow 
of  that  prevailing  intercession,  through  which  he  that 
is  joined  to  the  Lord  and  is  one  spirit  with  Him,  is 
received  of  God  as  part  of  Christ's  mystical  body, 
bone   of  His  bone,  and   flesh   of  His  flesh. 

III.  Next  comes  the  expression  of  a  half-formed 
purpose  which  was  put  aside  for  a  reason  to  be  im-. 
mediately  stated.  "  Whom  I  would  fain  have  kept 
with  me  "  ;  the  tense  of  the  verb  indicating  the  in- 
completeness of  the  desire.  The  very  statement  of 
it  is  turned  into  a  graceful  expression  of  Paul's  confi- 
dence in  Philemon's  goodwill  to  him,  by  the  addition 
of  that  "  on  thy  behalf"  He  is  sure  that,  if  his  friend 
had  been  beside  him,  he  would  have  been  glad  to 
lend  him  his  servant,  and  so  he  would  have  liked  to 
have  had  Onesimus  as  a  kind  of  representative  of  the 
service  which  he  knows  would  have  been  so  willingly 
rendered.     The  purpose  for  which  he  would    have 

30 


466  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 


liked  to  keep  him  is  defined  as  being,  "  that  he  might 
minister  to  me  in  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel."  If  the 
last  words  be  connected  with  "  me,"  they  suggest  a 
tender  reason  why  Paul  should  be  ministered  to,  as 
suffering  for  Christ,  their  common  Master,  and  for 
the  truth,  their  common  possession.  If,  as  is  perhaps 
less  probable,  they  be  connected  with  "  minister,"  they 
describe  the  sphere  in  which  the  service  is  to  be  ren- 
dered. Either  the  master  or  the  slave  would  be 
bound  by  the  obligations  which  the  Gospel  laid  on 
them  to  serve  Paul.  Both  were  his  converts,  and 
therefore  knit  to  him  by  a  welcome  chain,  which 
made  service  a  delight. 

There  is  no  need  to  enlarge  on  the  winning  cour- 
tesy of  these  words,  so  full  of  happy  confidence  in 
the  friend's  disposition,  that  they  could  not  but  evoke 
the  love  to  which  they  trusted  so  completely.  Nor 
need  I  do  more  than  point  their  force  for  the  purpose 
of  the  whole  letter,  the  procuring  a  cordial  reception 
for  the  returning  fugitive.  So  dear  had  he  become, 
that  Paul  would  like  to  have  kept  him.  He  goes 
back  with  a  kind  of  halo  round  him,  now  that  he  is 
not  only  a  good-for-nothing  runaway,  but  Paul's 
friend,  and  so  much  prized  by  him.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  do  anything  but  welcome  him,  bringing 
such  credentials ;  and  yet  all  this  is  done  with 
scarcely  a  word  of  direct  praise,  which  might  have 
provoked  contradiction.  One  does  not  know  whether 
the  confidence  in  Onesimus  or  in  Philemon  is  the 
dominant  note  in  the  harmony.  In  the  preceding 
clause,  he  was  spoken  of  as,  in  some  sense,  part  of 
the  Apostle's  very  self  In  this,  he  is  regarded  as, 
in  some  sense,  part  of  Philemon.  So  he  is  a  link 
between  them.     Paul  would  have  taken  his  service 


rhilcm.  12-14.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  467 

as  if  it  had  been  his  master's.  Can  the  master  fail 
to  take  him  as  if  he  were  Paul  ? 

IV.  The  last  topic  in  these  verses  is  the  decisioq 
which  arrested  the  half-formed  wish.  "  I  was  wish- 
ing indeed,  but  I  zvilled  otherwise."  The  language 
is  exact.  There  is  a  universe  between  "  I  wished '" 
and  "  I  willed."  Many  a  good  wish  remains  fruit- 
less, because  it  never  passes  into  the  stage  of  firm 
resolve.  Many  who  wish  to  be  better  will  to  be 
bad.  One  strong  "  I  will  "  can  paralyse  a  million 
wishes. 

The  Apostle's  final  determination  was,  to  do 
nothing  without  Philemon's  cognisance  and  consent. 
The  reason  for  the  decision  is  at  once  a  very  triumph 
of  persuasiveness,  which  would  be  ingenious  if  it 
were  not  so  spontaneous,  and  an  adumbration  of 
the  very  spirit  of  Christ's  appeal  for  service  to  us. 
"  That  thy  benefit  " — the  good  done  to  me  by  him, 
which  would  in  my  eyes  be  done  by  you — "  should 
not  be  as  of  necessity,  but  willingly."  That  "  as  " 
is  a  delicate  addition.  He  will  not  think  that  the 
benefit  would  really  have  been  by  constraint,  but  it 
might  have  looked   as  if  it  were. 

Do  not  these  words  go  much  deeper  than  this 
small  matter  ?  And  did  not  Paul  learn  the  spirit 
that  suggested  them  from  his  own  experience  of 
how  Christ  treated  him  1  The  principle  underlying 
them  is,  that  where  the  bond  is  love,  compulsion 
talces  the  sweetness  and  goodness  out  of  even  sweet 
and  good  things.  Freedom  is  essential  to  virtue. 
I7ir~man  "could  not  help  it"  there  is  neither  praise 
nor  blame  due.  That  freedom  Christianity  honours 
and  respects.  So  in  reference  to  the  oiTer  of  the 
gospel  blessings,  men  are  not  forced  to  accept  them 


46S  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

but  appealed  to,  and  can  turn  deaf  ears  to  the 
pleading  voice,  "  Why  will  ye  die  ?  "  Sorrows  and 
sins  and  miseries  without  end  continue,  and  the 
gospel  is  rejected,  and  lives  of  wretched  godlessness 
are  lived,  and  a  dark  future  pulled  down  on  the 
rejecters'  heads — and  all  because  God  knows  that 
these  things  are  better  than  that  men  should  be 
forced  into  goodness,  which  indeed  would  cease  to 
be  goodness  if  they  were.  For  nothing  is  good  but 
the  free  turning  of  the  will  to  goodness,  and  nothing 
bad  but  its  aversion  therefrom. i 

The  same  solemn  regard  for  the  freedom  of  the 
individual  and  low  estimate  of  the  worth  of  con- 
strained service  influence  the  whole  aspect  of  Christian 
ethics.  Christ  wants  no  pressed  men  in  His  army. 
The  victorious  host  of  priestly  warriors,  which  the 
Psalmist  saw  following  the  priest-king  in  the  day  of 
his  power,  numerous  as  the  dewdrops,  and  radiant 
with  reflected  beauty  as  these,  were  all  "  willing  " — 
volunteers.  There  are  no  conscripts  in  the  ranks. 
These  words  might  be  said  to  be  graven  over  the 
gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  "Not  as  of  necessity, 
but  willingly."  In  Christian  morals,  law  becomes 
love,  and  love,  law.  "  Must "  is  not  in  the  Christian 
vocabulary,  except  as  expressing  the  sweet  constraint 
which  bows  the  will  of  him  who  loves  to  harmony, 
which  is  joy,  with  the  will  of  Him  who  is  loved. 
Christ  takes  no  offerings  which  the  giver  is  not  glad 
to  render.  Money,  influence,  service,  which  are  not 
offered  by  a  will  moved  by  love,  which  love,  in  its 
turn,  is  set  in  motion  by  the  recognition  of  the 
infinite  love  of  Christ  in  His  sacrifice,  are,  in  His 
eyes,  nought.  An  earthenware  cup  with  a  drop  of 
cold  water  in  it,  freely  given  out  of  a  glad  heart,  is 


Philem.  12-14.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  469 

richer  and  more  precious  in  His  sight  than  golden 
chaHces  swimming  with  wine  and  melted  pearls, 
which  are  laid  by  constraint  on  His  table.  "  I 
delight  to  do  Thy  will  "  is  the  foundation  of  all 
Christian  obedience  ;  and  the  servant  had  caught 
the  very  tone  of  the  Lord's  voice  when  he  said, 
"  Without  thy  mind  I  will  do  nothing,  that  thy 
benefit  should  not  be,  as  it  were,  of  necessity,  but 
willingly," 


V. 

"  For  perhaps  he  was  therefore  parted  from  thee  for  a  season,  that 
thou  shouldest  have  him  for  ever;  no  longer  as  a  servant,  but  more 
than  a  servant,  a  brother  beloved,  specially  to  me,  but  how  much  rather 
to  thee,  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  Lord.  If  then  thou  countest  me 
a  partner,  receive  him  as  myself.  But  if  he  hath  wronged  thee  at  all, 
or  oweth  thee  aught,  put  that  to  mine  account ;  I  Paul  write  it  with 
mine  own  hand,  I  will  repay  it :  that  I  say  not  unto  thee  how  that  thou 
owest  to  me  even  thine  own  self  besides." — Philem.  15-19  (Rev.  Ver.). 

THE  first  words  of  these  verses  are  connected 
with  the  preceding  by  the  "  for"  at  the  begin- 
ning ;  that  is  to  say,  the  thought  that  possibly  the 
Divine  purpose  in  permitting  the  flight  of  Onesimus 
was  his  restoration,  in  eternal  and  holy  relationship, 
to  Philemon,  was  Paul's  reason  for  not  carrying  out 
his  wish  to  keep  Onesimus  as  his  own  attendant 
and  helper.  "  I  did  not  decide,  though  I  very  much 
wished,  to  retain  him  without  your  consent,  because 
it  is  possible  that  he  was  allowed  to  flee  from  you, 
though  his  flight  was  his  own  blamable  act,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  given  back  to  you,  a  richer 
possession,  a  brother  instead  of  a  slave." 

I.  There  is  here  a  Divine  purpose  discerned  as 
shining  through  a  questionable  human  act. 

The  first  point  to  note  is,  with  what  charitable 
delicacy  of  feeling  the  Apostle  uses  a  mild  word  to 
express  the  fugitive's  flight.  He  will  not  employ 
the  ha'sh  naked  word  "ran  away."     It  might  irritate 


Phikm.  15-19]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMOISr.  471 

Philemon.  Besides,  Onesimus  has  repented  of  his 
faults,  as  is  plain  from  the  fact  of  his  voluntary- 
return,  and  therefore  there  is  no  need  for  dwelling 
on  them.  The  harshest,  sharpest  words  are  best 
when  callous  consciences  are  to  be  made  to  wince  ; 
but  words  that  are  balm  and  healing  are  to  be  used 
when  men  are  heartily  ashamed  of  their  sins.  So 
the  deed  for  which  Philemon's  forgiveness  is  asked 
is  half  veiled  in  the  phrase  "  he  was  parted." 

Not  only  so,  but  the  word  suggests  that  behind 
the  slave's  mutiny  and  flight  there  was  another  Will 
working,  of  which,  in  some  sense,  Onesimus  was  but 
the  instrument.  He  "  was  parted  " — not  that  he 
was  not  responsible  for  his  flight,  but  that,  through 
his  act,  which  in  the  eyes  of  all  concerned  was 
wrong,  Paul  discerns  as  dimly  visible  a  great  Divine 
purpose. 

But  he  puts  that  as  only  a  possibility :  "  Perhaps 

he   departed   from   thee." He   will   not    be    too 

sure  of  what  God  means  by  such  and  such  a  thing, 
as  some  of  us  are  wont  to  be,  as  if  we  had  been 
sworn  of  God's  privy  council.  "  Perhaps  "  is  one  of 
the  hardest  words  for  minds  of  a  certain  class  to 
say;  but  in  regard  to  all  such  subjects,  and  to  many 
more,  it  is  the  motto  of  the  wise  man,  and  the 
shibboleth  which  sifts  out  the  patient,  modest  lovers 
of  truth  from  rash  theorists  and  precipitate  dog- 
matisers.  Impatience  of  uncertainty  is  a  moral 
fault  which  mars  many  an  intellectual  process  ;  and 
its  evil  effects  are  nowhere  more  visible  than  in  the 
field  of  theology.  A  humble  "perhaps"  often  grows 
into  a  "  verily,  verily  " — and  a  hasty,  over-confident 
"  verily,  verily,"  often  dwindles  to  a  hesitating  "  per- 
haps."    Let  us  not  be  in  too  great  a  hurry  to  make 


472  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

sure  that  we  have  the  key  of  the  cabinet  where 
God  keeps  His  purposes,  but  content  ourselves  with 
"  perhaps  '*  when  we  are  interpreting  the  often 
questionable  ways  of  His  providences,  each  of  which 
has  many  meanings  and  many  ends?) 

But  however  modestly  he  may  hesitate  as  to  the 
application  of  the  principle,  Paul  has  no  doubt  as  to 
the  principle  itself :  namely,  that  God,  in  the  sweep 
of  His  wise  providence,  utilizes  even  men's  evil,  and 
works  it  in,  to  the  accomplishment  of  great  purposes 
far  beyond  their  ken,  as  nature,  in  her  patient 
chemistry,  takes  the  rubbish  and  filth  of  the  dung- 
hill and  turns  them  into  beauty  and  food.  Onesimus 
had  no  high  motives  in  his  flight ;  he  had  run  away 
under  discreditable  circumstances,  and  perhaps  to 
escape  deserved  punishment.  Laziness  and  theft  had 
been  the  hopeful  companions  of  his  flight,  which, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  had  been  the  outcome 
of  low  and- probably  criminal  impulses;  and  yet 
God  had  known  how  to  use  it  so  as  to  lead  to  his 
becoming  a  Christian.  "  With  the  wrath  of  man 
Thou  girdest  Thyself,"  twisting  and  bending  it  so  as 
to  be  flexible  in  Thy  hands,  and  "  the  remainder 
Thou  dost  restrain."  How  unlike  were  the  seed 
and  the  fruit — the  flight  of  a  good-for-nothing  thief 
and  the  return  of  a  Christian  brother  !  He  meant 
it  not  so  ;  but  in  running  away  from  his  master,  he 
was  running  straight  into  the  arms  of  his  Saviour. 
How  little  Onesimus  knew  what  was  to  be  the  end 
of  that  day's  work,  when  he  slunk  out  of  Philemon's 
house  with  his  stolen  booty  hid  away  in  his  bosom  ! 
And  how  little  any  of  us  know  where  we  are  going, 
and  what  strange  results  may  evolve  themselves 
from  our  actions  1     Blessed  they  who  can  rest  in  the 


Phllem.  15-19.]     THE  EPISTl E   TO  PHILEMON.  473 

confidence  that,  however  modest  we  should  be  in 
our  interpretation  of  the  events  of  our  own  or  of 
other  men's  lives,  the  infinitely  complex  web  of 
circumstance  is  woven  by  a  loving,  wise  Hand,  and 
takes  shape,  with  all  its  interlacing  threads,  accord- 
ing to  a  pattern  in  His  hand,  which  will  vindicate 
itself  when  it  is  finished  ! 

The  contrast  is  emphatic  between  the  short 
absence  and  the  eternity  of  the  new  relationship  : 
"  for  a  season  " — literally  an  hour — and  "  for  ever." 
There  is  but  one  point  of  view  which  gives  import- 
ance to  this  material  world,  with  all  its  fleeting  joys 
and  fallacious  possessions  Life  is  not  worth  living, 
unless  it  be  the  vestibule  to  a  life  beyond.  Why  all 
its  discipline,  whether  of  sorrow  or  joy,  unless  there 
be  another,  ampler  life,  where  we  can  use  to  nobler 
ends  the  powers  acquired  and  greatened  by  use 
here  ?  What  an  inconsequent  piece  of  work  is 
man,  if  the  few  years  of  earth  are  his  all !  Surely, 
if  nothing  is  to  come  of  all  this  life  here,  men  are 
made  in  vain,  and  had  better  not  have  been  at  all. 
Here  is  a  narrow  sound,  with  a  mere  ribbon  of  sea 
in  it,  shut  in  between  grim,  echoing  rocks.  How 
small  and  meaningless  it  looks  as  long  as  the  fog 
hides  the  great  ocean  beyond  !  But  when  the  mist 
lifts,  and  we  see  that  the  narrow  strait  leads  out  into 
a  boundless  sea  that  lies  flashing  in  the  sunshine  to 
the  horizon,  then  we  find  out  the  worth  of  that  little 
driblet  of  water  at  our  feet.  It  connects  with  the 
open  sea,  and  that  swathes  the  world.  So  is  it  with 
"  the  hour  "  of  life  ;  it  opens  out  and  debouches  into 
the  "  for  ever,"  and  therefore  it  is  great  and  solemn. 
This  moment  is  one  of  the  moments  of  that  hour. 
We  are  the  sport   of  our  own  generalisations,  and 


474  "^HE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

ready  to  admit  all  these  fine  and  solemn  things 
about  life,  but  we  are  less  willing  to  apply  them  to 
the  single  moments  as  they  fly.  We  should  not 
rest  content  with  recognising  the  general  truth,  but 
ever  make  conscious  effort  to  feel  that  this  passing 
instant  has  something  to  do  with  our  eternal  character 
and  with  our  eternal  destiny. 

That  is  an  exquisitely  beautiful  and  tender  thought 
which  the  Apostle  puts  here,  and  one  which  is 
susceptible  of  many  applications.  The  temporary 
loss  may  be  eternal  gain.  The  dropping  away  of 
the  earthly  form  of  a  relationship  may,  in  God's 
great  mercy,  be  a  step  towards  its  renewal  in  higher 
fashion  and  for  evermore.  All  our  blessings  need 
to  be  past  before  reflection  can  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  them,  to  make  us  conscious  how  blessed  we 
were.  The  blossoms  have  to  perish  before  the  rich 
perfume,  which  can  be  kept  in  undiminished  frag- 
rance for  years,  can  be  distilled  from  them.  When 
death  takes'  away  dear  ones,  we  first  learn  that  we 
were  entertaining  angels  unawares  ;  and  as  they 
float  away  from  us  into  the  light,  they  look  back 
with  faces  already  beginning  to  brighten  into  the 
likeness  of  Christ,  and  take  leave  of  us  with  His 
valediction,  "  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go 
away."  Memory  teaches  us  the  true  character  of 
life.  We  can  best  estimate  the  height  of  the 
mountain  peaks  when  we  have  left  them  behind. 
The  softening  and  hallowing  influence  of  death 
reveals  the  nobleness  and  sweetness  of  those  who 
are  gone.  Fair  country  never  looks  so  fair  as  when 
it  has  a  curving  river  for  a  foreground  ;  and  fair  lives 
look  fairer  than  before,  when  seen  across  the  Jordan 
of  death. 


Philem.  IS-I9.]     THE  EPISTLE   10  PHILEMON,  475 

To  US  who  believe  that  life  and  love  are  not 
killed  by  death,  the  end  of  their  earthly  form  is 
but  the  beginning  of  a  higher  heavenly.  Love  which 
is  "  in  Christ  "  is  eternal.  Because  Philemon  and 
Onesimus  were  two  Christians,  therefore  their  rela- 
tionship was  eternal.  Is  it  not  yet  more  true,  if 
that  were  possible,  that  the  sweet  bonds  which  unite 
Christian  souls  here  on  earth  are  in  their  essence 
indestructible,  and  are  affected  by  death  only  as  the 
body  is  ?  Sown  in  weakness,  will  they  not  be  raised 
in  power?  Nothing  of  them  shall  die  but  the 
encompassing  death.  Their  mortal  part  shall  put 
on  immortality.  As  the  farmer  gathers  the  green 
flax  with  its  blue  bells  blooming  on  it,  and  throws  it 
into  a  tank  to  rot,  in  order  to  get  the  firm  fibre 
which  cannot  rot,  and  spin  it  into  a  strong  cable,  so 
God  does  with  our  earthly  loves.  He  causes  all 
about  them  that  is  perishable  to  perish,  that  the 
central  fibre,  which  is  eternal,  may  stand  clear  and 
disengaged  from  all  that  was  less  Divine  than  itself. 
Wherefore  mourning  hearts  may  stay  themselves  on 
this  assurance,  that  they  will  never  lose  the  dear 
ones  whom  they  have  loved  in  Christ,  and  that  death 
itself  but  changes  the  manner  of  the  communion, 
and  refines  the  tie.  They  were  as  for  a  moment 
dead,  but  they  are  alive  again.  To  our  bev/ildered 
sight  they  departed  and  were  lost  for  a  season,  but 
they  are  found,  and  we  can  fold  them  in  our  heart  of 
hearts  for  ever. 

/But  there  is  also  set  forth  here  a  change,  not 
omy  in  the  duration  but  in  the  quality  of  the  relation 
between  the  Christian  master  and  his  former  slave, 
who  continues  a  slave  indeed,  but  is  also  a  brother. 
**  No  longer  as  a  servant,  but   more  llian  a  servant, 


476  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON'. 

a  brother  beloved,  specially  to  me,  but  how  much 
rather  to  thee,  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  Lord." 
It  is  clear  from  these  words  that  Paul  did  not  anti- 
cipate the  manumission  of  Onesimus.  What  he 
asks  is,  that  he  should  not  be  received  as  a  slave. 
Evidently  then  he  is  to  be  still  a  slave  in  so  far  as 
the  outward  fact  goes — but  a  new  spirit  is  to  be 
breathed  into  the  relationship.  "  Specially  to  me"  ; 
he  is  more  than  a  slave  to  me.  I  have  not  looked 
on  him  as  such,  but  have  taken  him  to  my  heart  as 
a  brother,  as  a  son  indeed,  for  he  is  especially  dear 
to  me  as  my  convert.  But  however  dear  he  is  to 
me,  he  should  be  more  so  to  thee,  to  whom  his  relation 
is  permanent,  while  to  me  it  is  temporary.  And  this 
Brotherhood  of  the  slave  is  to  be  felt  and  made 
visible  "  both  in  the  flesh  " — that  is,  in  the  earthly 
and  personal  relations  of  common  life,  "and  in  the 
Lord  " — that  is,  in  the  spiritual  and  religious  rela- 
tionships of  v/orship  and  the  Church.; 

^s  has  been  well  said,  "  In  the  flesh,  Philemon 
has  the  brother  for  his  slave  ;  in  the  Lord,  Philemon 
has  the  slave  for  his  brother."  He  is  to  treat  him 
as  his  brother  therefore  both  in  the  common  rela- 
tionships of  every-day  life  and  in  the  acts  of 
religious  worship. 

(That  is  a  pregnant  word.  True,  there  is  no  gulf 
between  Christian  people  now-a-days  like  that  which 
in  the  old  times  parted  owner  and  slave  ;  but,  as 
society  becomes  more  and  more  differentiated,  as 
the  diversities  of  wealth  become  more  extreme  in 
our  commercial  communities,  as  education  comes  to 
make  the  educated  man's  whole  way  of  looking  at 
life  differ  more  and  more  from  that  of  the  less 
cultured  classes,  the  injunction  implied  in  our  text 


Philem.  15-19.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  477 

encounters  enemies  quite  as  formidable  as  slavery 
ever  was.  The  highly  educated  man  is  apt  to  be 
very  oblivious  of  the  brotherhood  of  the  ignorant 
Christian,  and  he,  on  his  part,  finds  the  recognition 
just  as  hard.  The  rich  mill-owner  has  not  much 
sympathy  with  the  poor  brother  who  works  at  his 
spinning-jennies.  It  is  often  difficult  for  the 
Christian  mistress  to  remember  that  her  cook  is  her 
sister  in  Christ.  There  is  quite  as  much  sin  against 
fraternity  on  the  side  of  the  poor  Christians  who 
are  servants  and  illiterate,  as  on  the  side  of  the 
rich  who  are  masters  or  cultured.  But  the  princi- 
ple that  Christian  brotherhood  is  to  reach  across 
the  wall  of  class  distinctions  is  as  binding  to-day 
as  it  was  on  these  two  good  people,  Philemon  the 
master  and  Onesimus  the  slave. ^ 

That  _brotherhood  is  not  to  be  confined  to  acts 
and  times  of  Christian  communion,  but  is  to  be 
shown  and  to  shape  conduct  in  common  life.  "Both 
in  the  flesh  and  in  the  Lord "  may  be  put  into 
plain  English  thus  :  A  rich  man  and  a  poor  one 
belong  to  the  same  church ;  they  unite  in  the  same 
worship,  they  are  "  partakers  of  the  one  bread,"  and 
therefore,  Paul  thinks,  "  are  one  bread."  They  go 
outside  the  church  door.  Do  they  ever  dream  of 
speaking  to  one  another  outside  t  "  A  brother 
beloved  in  the  Lord " — on  Sundays,  and  during 
worship  and  in  Church  matters — is  often  a  stranger 
*'  in  the  flesh "  on  Mondays,  in  the  street  and  in 
common  life.  Some  good  people  seem  to  keep 
their  brotherly  love  in  the  same  wardrobe  with  their 
Sunday  clothes.  Philemon  was  bid,  and  all  are 
bid,  to  wear  it  all  the  week,  at  market  as  well  as 
church. 


47S  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

II.  In  the  next  verse,  the  essential  purpose  for 
which  the  whole  letter  was  written  is  put  at  last 
in  an  articulate  request,  based  upon  a  very  tender 
motive.  "  If  then  thou  countest  me  as  a  partner, 
receive  him  as  myself."  Paul  now  at  last  completes 
the  sentence  which  he  began  in  v.  12,  and  from 
which  he  was  hurried  away  by  the  other  thoughts 
that  came  crowding  in  upon  him.  This  plea  for 
the  kindly  welcome  to  be  accorded  to  Onesimus  has 
been  knocking  at  the  door  of  his  lips  for  utterance 
from  the  beginning  of  the  letter ;  but  only  now, 
so  near  the  end,  after  so  much  conciliation,  he 
ventures  to  put  it  into  plain  words ;  and  even  now 
he  does  not  dwell  on  it,  but  goes  quickly  on  to 
another  point.  He  puts  his  requests  on  a  modest 
and  yet  a  strong  ground,  appealing  to  Philemon's 
sense  of  comradeship — "  if  thou  countest  me  a  part- 
ner " — a  comrade  or  a  sharer  in  Christian  blessings. 
He  sinks  all  reference  to  apostolic  authority,  and 
only  points  to  their  common  possession  of  faith, 
hope,  and  joy  in  Christ.  "  Receive  him  as  myself." 
That  request  was  sufficiently  illustrated  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  so  that  I  need  only  refer  to  what 
was  then  said  on  this  instance  of  interceding  love 
identifying  itself  with  its  object,  and  on  the  enuncia- 
tion in  it  of  great  Christian  truth. 

III.  The  course  of  thought  next  shows — Love 
taking  the  slave's  debts  on  itself. 

"  If  he  hath  wronged  thee,  or  oweth  thee  aught." 
Paul  makes  an  "  if "  of  what  he  knew  well  enough 
to  be  the  fact ;  for  no  doubt  Onesimus  had  told 
him  all  his  faults,  and  the  whole  context  shows  that 
there  was  no  uncertainty  in  Paul's  mind,  but  that 
he    puts    the    v.rong    hypothetically    for    the    same 


Philem.  15-19.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  479 

reason  for  which  he  chooses  to  say,  "  was  parted," 
instead  of  "  ran  away,"  namely,  to  keep  some  thin 
veil  over  the  crimes  of  a  penitent,  and  not  to  rasp 
him  with  rough  words.  For  the  same  reason,  too, 
he  falls  back  upon  the  gentler  expressions, 
"  wronged  "  and  "  oweth,"  instead  of  blurting  out 
the  ugly  word  "  stolen."  And  then,  with  a  half- 
playful  assumption  of  lawyer-like  phraseology,  he 
bids  Philemon  put  that  to  his  account.  Here  is  my 
autograph — "  I  Paul  write  it  with  mine  own  hand  " 
— I  make  this  letter  into  a  bond.  Witness  my 
hand  ;  "  I  will  repay  it."  The  formal  tone  of  the 
promise,  rendered  more  formal  by  the  insertion  of 
the  name — and  perhaps  by  that  sentence  only  being 
in  his  own  handwriting — seems  to  warrant  the 
explanation  that  it  is  half  playful ;  for  he  could 
never  have  supposed  that  Philemon  would  exact  the 
fulfilment  of  the  bond,  and  we  have  no  reason  to 
suppose  that,  if  he  had,  Paul  could  really  have  paid 
the  amount.  But  beneath  the  playfulness  there  lies 
the  implied  exhortation  to  forgive  the  money  wrong 
as  well  as  the  others  which  Onesimus  had  done 
him.^ 

The  verb  used  here  for  put  to  the  account  of  is, 
according  to  the  commentators,  a  very  rare  word  ; 
and  perhaps  the  singular  phrase  may  be  chosen  to 
let  another  great  Christian  truth  shine  through. 
Was  Paul's  love  the  only  one  that  we  know  of  which 
took  the  slave's  debts  on  itself.?  Did  anybody  else 
ever  say,  "  Put  that  on  mine  account "  ?  We  have 
been  taught  to  ask  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins 
as  "  debts,"  and  we  have  been  taught  that  there 
is  One  on  whom  God  has  made  to  meet  the 
iniquities    of  us   all.      Christ   takes    on   Himself  all 


48o  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

Paul's  debt,  all  Philemon's,  all  ours.  He  has  paid  the 
ransom  for  all,  and  He  so  identifies  Himself  with 
men  that  He  takes  all  their  sins  upon  Him,  and  so 
identifies  men  with  Himself  that  they  are  "  received 
as  Himself."  It  is  His  great  example  that  Paul 
is  trying  to  copy  here.  Forgiven  all  that  great 
debt,  he  dare  not  rise  from  his  knees  to  take  his 
brother  by  the  throat,  but  goes  forth  to  show  to  his 
fellow  the  mercy  which  he  has  found,  and  to  model 
his  life  after  the  pattern  of  that  miracle  of  love 
in  which  is  his  trust.  It  is  Christ's  own  voice  which 
echoes  in  "  put  that  on  mine  account."  ) 

IV.  Finally,  these  verses  pass  to  a  gentle  re- 
minder of  a  greater  debt :  "  That  I  say  not  unto 
thee  how  that  thou  owest  to  me  even  thine  own  self 
besides." 

As  his  child  in  the  Gospel,  Philemon  owed  to 
Paul  much  more  than  the  trifle  of  money  of  which 
Onesimus  had  robbed  him  ;  namely  his  spiritual  life, 
which  he  had  received  through  the  Apostle's  ministry. 
But  he  will  not  insist  on  that.  True  love  never 
presses  its  claims,  nor  recounts  its  services.  Claims 
which  need  to  be  urged  are  not  worth  urging.  A 
true,  generous  heart  will  never  say,  "  You  ought  to 
do  so  much  for  me,  because  I  have  done  so  much 
for  you."  To  come  down  to  that  low  level  of 
chaffering  and  barter  is  a  dreadful  descent  from  the 
heights  where  the  love  which  delights  in  giving 
should   ever  dwell. 

Does  not  Christ  speak  to  us  in  the  same  lan- 
guage ?  We  owe  ourselves  to  Him,  as  Lazarus 
did,  for  He  raises  us  from  the  death  of  sin  to  a 
share  in  His  own  new,  undying  life.  As  a  sick  man 
owes  his  life  to  the  doctor  who  has  cured  him,  as 


Philem.  I5-I9-]     THE  EFISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  481 

a  drowning  man  owes  his  to  his  rescuer,  v/ho  dragged 
him  from  the  water  and  breathed  into  his  lungs  till 
they  began  to  work  of  themselves,  as  a  child  owes 
its  life  to  its  parent — so  we  owe  ourselves  to  Christ. 
But  He  does  not  insist  upon  the  debt  ;  He  gently 
reminds  us  of  it,  as  making  His  commandment 
sweeter  and  easier  to  obey.  Every  heart  that  is 
really  touched  with  gratitude  will  feel,  that  the  less 
the  giver  insists  upon  his  gifts,  the  more  do  they 
impel  to  affectionate  service.  To  be  perpetually 
reminded  of  them  weakens  their  force  as  motives  to 
obedience,  for  it  then  appears  as  if  they  had  not 
been  gifts  of  love  at  all,  but  bribes  given  by  self- 
interest  ;  and  the  frequent  reference  to  them  sounds 
like  complaint.  But  Christ  does  not  insist  on  His 
claims,  and  therefore  the  remembrance  of  them  ought 
to  underlie  all  our  lives  and  to  lead  to  constant  glad 
devotion. 

One  more  thought  may  be  drawn  from  the  words. 
The  great  debt  which  can  never  be  discharged  does 
not  prevent  the  debtor  from  receiving  reward  for  the 
obedience  of  love.  "  I  will  repay  it,"  even  though 
thou  owest  me  thyself.  Christ  has  bought  us  for 
His  servants  by  giving  Himself  and  ourselves  to  us. 
No  work,  no  devotion,  no  love  can  ever  repay  our 
debt  to  Him.  From  His  love  alone  comes  the 
desire  to  serve  Him ;  from  His  grace  comes  the 
power.  The  best  works  are  stained  and  incomplete, 
and  could  only  be  acceptable  to  a  Love  that  was 
glad  to  welcome  even  unworthy  offerings,  and  to 
forgive  their  imperfections.  Nevertheless  He  treats 
them  as  worthy  of  reward,  and  crowns  His  own 
grace  in  men  with  an  exuberance  of  recompense  far 
beyond  their  deserts.     He   will   suffer   no   man   to 

31 


482  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

work  for  Him  for  nothing  ;  but  to  each  He  gives 
even  here  great  reward  in  keeping  His  command- 
ments," and  hereafter  "  an  exceeding  great  reward," 
of  which  the  inward  joys  and  outward  blessings  that 
now  flow  from  obedience  are  but  the  earnest.  His 
merciful  allowance  of  imperfections  treats  even  our 
poor  deeds  as  rewardable  ;  and  though  eternal  life 
must  ever  be  the  gift  of  God,  and  no  claim  of  merit 
can  be  sustained  before  His  judgment  seat,  yet  the 
measure  of  that  life  which  is  possessed  here  or  here- 
after is  accurately  proportioned  to  and  is,  in  a  very 
real  sense,  the  consequence  of  obedience  and  service. 
"  If  any  man's  work  abide,  he  shall  receive  a 
reward,"  and  Christ's  own  tender  voice  speaks  the 
promise,  "  1  will  rep^y,  albeit  I  say  not  unto  thee 
how  thou  owest  to  Me  even  thine  own  self  besides." 
Men  do  not  really  possess  themselves  unless  they 
yield  themselves  to  Jesus  Christ.  He  that  loveth 
his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  himself,  in 
glad  surrender  of  himself  to  his  Saviour,  he  and  only 
he  is  truly  lord  and  owner  of  his  own  soul.  And  to 
such  an  one  shall  be  given  rewards  beyond  hope 
and  beyond  measure — and,  as  the  crown  of  all,  the 
blessed  possession  of  Christ,  and  in  it  the  full,  true, 
eternal  possession  of  himself,  glorified  and  changed 
into  the  image  of  the  Lord  who  loved  him  and  gave 
Himself  for  him. 


VL 

•*Yca,  T)rotlier,  let  meliave  joy  of  thee  in  the  Lor3  t  refresh  my  heart 
in  Christ.  Having  confidence  in  thine  obedience  I  write  unto  thee, 
knowing  that  thou  wilt  do  even  beyond  what  I  say.  But  withal  prepare 
me  a  lodging  :  for  I  hope  that  through  your  prayers  I  shall  be  granted 
unto  you. 

**  Epaphras,  my  fellow  prisoner  in  Christ  Jesus,  saluteth  thee  ;  and 
so  do  Mark,  Aristarchus,  Demas,  Luke,  my  fellow  workers. 

**The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your  spirit.  Amen." 
— Philem.  20-25  (Rev.  Ver.). 

WE  have  already  had  occasion  to  point  out  that 
Paul's  pleading  with  Philemon,  and  the 
motives  which  he  adduces,  are  expressions,  on  a 
lower  level,  of  the  greatest  principles  of  Christian 
ethics.  If  the  closing  salutations  be  left  out  of  sight 
for  the  moment,  there  are  here  three  verses,  each 
containing  a  thought  which  needs  only  to  be  cast 
into  its  most  general  form  to  show  itself  as  a  large 
Christian  truth. 

I.  Verse  20  gives  the  final  moving  form  of  the 
Apostle's  request.  Onesimus  disappears,  and  the 
final  plea  is  based  altogether  on  the  fact  that  com- 
pliance will  pleasure  and  help  Paul.  There  is  but 
the  faintest  gleam  of  a  possible  allusion  to  the 
former  in  the  use  of  the  verb  from  which  the  name 
Onesimus  is  derived — "  Let  me  have  help  of  thee  "  ; 
as  if  he  had  said,  "  Be  you  an  Onesimus,  a  helpful 
one    to  me,  as  I   trust  he  is  going  to  be  to  you." 


484  THE  EPISTLE   TO  FHILEMON. 

"  Refresh  my  heart"  points  back  to  v.  7,  "The  hearts 
of   the    saints    have    been    refreshed  by  thee,"   and 
h'ghtly  suggests   that  Philemon   should   do  for   Paul 
\\hat    he    had    done    for    many    others.       But    the 
Apostle  does  not  merely  ask  help  and  refreshing  ; 
he  desires  that  they  should  be  of  a  right  Christian 
sort.   ''"  In  Christ  "  is  very  significant.      If  Philemon 
receives    his    slave    for    Christ's    sake    and    in  the 
strength  of  that  communion  with  Christ  which  fits 
for  all  virtue,  and  so  for  this  good  deed — a    deed 
which   is  of  too  high  and  rare  a  strain  of  goodness 
for  his  unaided  nature, — then  "  in   Christ "  he  will 
be  helpful  to  the  Apostle.      In  that  case  the  phrase 
expresses  the  element  or  sphere  in  which  the  act  is 
done.     But    it  may  apply  rather,  or  even  also,   to 
Paul,  and  then  it  expresses  the  element  or  sphere  in 
which  he  is  helped  and  refreshed.      In  communion 
with  Jesus,  taught  and  inspired  by  Him,  the  Apostle 
is  brought  to  such  true  and  tender  sympathy  with 
the  runaway  that  his  heart  is  refreshed,  as  by  a  cup 
of   cold    water,    by  kindness  shown  to  him.      Such 
keen  sympathy  is    as    much    beyond    the  reach   of 
nature  as  Philemon's  kindness  would  be.      Both  are 
"  in    Christ."     Union  with    Him   refines  selfishness, 
and    makes    men    quick  to    feel    another's    sorrows 
and   joys  as  theirs,  after  the  pattern  of  Him  who 
makes    the    case   of   God's  fugitives    His    own.     It 
makes  them  easy  to  be  entreated  and  ready  to  for- 
give.    So   to   be   in  Him  is  to  be  sympathetic  like 
Paul,    and    placable    as   He  would  have    Onesimus. 
"  In    Christ "    carries   in    it    the  secret  of  all   sweet 
humanities  and  beneficence,  is  the  spell  which  calls 
out    fairest    charity,  and  is  the  only  victorious   an- 
tagonist of  harshness  and  selfishness.\ 


Philem.  20-25.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  485 

The  request  for  the  sake  of  which  the  whole  letter 
is'written  is  here  put  as  a  kindness  to  Paul  himself, 
and  thus  an  entirely  different  motive  is  appealed 
to.  "  Surely  you  would  be  glad  to  give  me  pleasure. 
Then  do  this  thing  which  I  ask  you."  It  is  per- 
missible to  seek  to  draw  to  virtuous  acts  by  such 
a  motive,  and  to  reinforce  higher  reasons  by  the 
desire  to  please  dear  ones,  or  to  win  the  approbation 
of  the  wise  and  good.  It  must  be  rigidly  kept  as 
a  subsidiary  motive,  and  distinguished  from  the  mere 
love  of  applause.  Most  men  have  some  one  whose 
opinion  of  their  acts  is  a  kind  of  embodied  con- 
science, and  whose  satisfaction  is  reward.  But  pleas- 
ing the  dearest  and  purest  among  men  can  never 
be  more  than  at  most  a  crutch  to  help  lameness 
or.<L  spur  to  stimulate. 

Mf  however  this  motive  be  lifted  to  the  higher 
level,  and  these  words  thought  of  as  Paul's  echo  of 
Christ's  appeal  to  those  who  love  Him,  they  beauti- 
fully express  the  peculiar  blessedness  of  Christian 
ethics.  The  strongest  motive,  the  very  mainspring 
and  pulsing  heart  of  Christian  duty,  is  to  please 
Christ.  His  language  to  His  followers  is  not,  "  Do 
this  because  it  is  right,"  but,  "  Do  this  because  it 
pleaseth  Me."  They  have  a  living  Person  to  gratify, 
not  a  mere  law  of  duty  to  obey.  The  help  which 
is  given  to  weakness  by  the  hope  of  winning  golden 
opinions  from,  or  giving  pleasure  to,  those  whom 
men  love  is  transferred  in  the  Christian  relation 
to  Jesus.  So  the  cold  thought  of  duty  is  warmed, 
and  the  weight  of  obedience  to  a  stony,  impersonal 
law  is  lightened,  and  a  new  power  is  enlisted  on 
the  side  of  goodness,  which  sways  more  mightily 
than    all    the    abstractions    of  duty.        The    Christ 


486  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON, 

Himself  makes  His  appeal  to  men  in  the  same 
tender  fashion  as  Paul  to  Philemon.  He  will  move 
to  holy  obedience  by  the  thought — wonderful  as 
it  is — that  it  gladdens  Him.  Many  a  weak  heart 
has  been  braced  and  made  capable  of  heroisms  of 
endurance  and  effort,  and  of  angel  deeds  of  mercy, 
all  beyond  its  own  strength,  by  that  great  thought, 
*'  We  labour  that,  whether  present  or  absent,  we  may 
be  well-pleasing  to  Him.") 

n.  Verse  21  exhibits  love  commanding,  in  the 
confidence  of  love  obeying.  "  Having  confidence 
in  thine  obedience  I  write  unto  thee,  knowing  that 
thou  wilt  do  even  beyond  what  I  say."  In  v,  8 
the  Apostle  had  waived  his  right  to  enjoin,  because 
he  had  rather  speak  the  speech  of  love,  and  request. 
But  here,  with  the  slightest  possible  touch,  he  just 
lets  the  note  of  authority  sound  for  a  single  moment, 
and  then  passes  into  the  old  music  of  affection  and 
trust.  He  but  names  the  word  "obedience,"  and 
that  in  such  a  way  as  to  present  it  as  the  child 
of  love,  and  the  privilege  of  his  friend.  He  trusts 
Philemon's  obedience,  because  he  knows  his  love, 
and  is  sure  that  it  is  love  of  such  a  sort  as  will 
not  stand  on  the  exact  measure,  but  will  delight 
in  giving  it  "  pressed  down  and  running  over." 

What  could  he  mean  by  "  do  more  than  I  say  "  .? 
Was  he  hinting  at  emancipation,  which  he  would 
rather  have  to  come  from  Philemon's  own  sense  of 
what  was  due  to  the  slave  who  was  now  a  brother, 
than  be  granted,  perhaps  hesitatingly,  in  deference  to 
his  request  }  Possibly,  but  more  probably  he  had 
no  definite  thing  in  his  mind,  but  only  desired  to 
express  his  loving  confidence  in  his  friend's  willing- 
ness  to   please   him.  /Commands  given   in  such   a 


Philem.20-2S.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  487 

tone,  where  authority  audibly  trusts  the  subordinate, 
are  far  more  likely  to  be  obeyed  than  if  they  were 
shouted  with  the  hoarse  voice  of  a  drill-sergeant. 
Men  will  do  much  to  fulfil  generous  expectations. 
Even  debased  natures  will  respond  to  such  appeal  ; 
and  if  they  see  that  good  is  expected  from  them, 
that  will  go  far  to  evoke  it.  Some  masters  have 
always  good  servants,  and  part  of  the  secret  is  that 
they  trust  them  to  obey.  "  England  expects " 
fulfilled  itself.  When  love  enjoins  there  should  be 
trust  in  its  tones.  It  will  act  like  a  magnet  to  draw 
reluctant  feet  into  the  path  of  duty.  A  will  which 
mere  authority  could  not  bend,  like  iron  when  cold, 
may  be  made  flexible  when  warmed  by  this  gentle 
heat.  If  parents  oftener  let  their  children  feel  that 
they  had  confidence  in  their  obedience,  they  would 
seldomer  have  to  complain  of  their  disobedience. 

Christ's  commands  follow,  or  rather  set,  this  pat- 
tern. He  trusts  His  servants,  and  speaks  to  them 
in  a  voice  softened  and  confiding.  He  tells  them 
His  wish,  and  commits  Himself  and  His  cause  to 
His  disciples'  love. 

Obedience  beyond  the  strict  limits  of  command 
will  always  be  given  by  love.  It  is  a  poor,  grudging 
service  which  weighs  obedience  as  a  chemist  does 
some  precious  medicine,  and  is  careful  that  not  the 
hundredth  part  of  a  grain  more  than  the  prescribed 
amount  shall  be  doled  out.  A  hired  workman  will 
fling  down  his  lifted  trowel  full  of  mortar  at  the  first 
stroke  of  the  clock,  though  it  would  be  easier  to  lay 
it  on  the  bricks ;  but  where  affection  moves  the 
hand,  it  is  delight  to  add  something  over  and  above 
to  bare  duty.  The  artist  who  loves  his  work  will 
put  many  a  touch  on  it  beyond  the  minimum  which 


488  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

will  fulfil  his  contract.  Those  who  adequately  feel 
the  power  of  Christian  motives  will  not  be  anxious 
to  find  the  least  that  they  durst,  but  the  most  that 
they  can  do.  If  obvious  duty  requires  them  to  go 
a  mile,  they  will  rather  go  two,  than  be  scrupulous 
to  stop  as  soon  as  they  see  the  milestone.  A  child 
who  is  always  trying  to  find  out  how  little  would 
satisfy  his  father  cannot  have  much  love.  Obe- 
dience to  Christ  is  joy,  peace,  love.  The  grudg'ng 
servants  are  limiting  their  possession  of  these,  hy 
limiting  their  active  surrender  of  themselves.  They 
seem  to  be  afraid  of  having  too  much  of  these 
blessings.  A  heart  truly  touched  by  the  love  of 
Jesus  Christ  will  not  seek  to  know  the  lowest  limit 
of  duty,  but  the  highest  possibility  of  service.  ^ 

"  Give  all  thou  canst ;  high  heaven  rejects  the  lore 
Of  nicely  calculated  less  or  more." 

III.  Verse  22  may  be  summed  up  as  the  lan- 
guage of  love,  hoping  for  reunion.  "  Withal  prepare 
me  a  lodging  :  for  I  hope  that  through  your  prayers 
I  shall  be  granted  unto  you."  We  do  not  know 
whether  the  Apostle's  expectation  was  fulfilled.  Be- 
lieving that  he  was  set  free  from  his  first  imprison- 
ment, and  that  his  second  was  separated  from  it 
by  a  considerable  interval,  during  which  he  visited 
Macedonia  and  Asia  Minor,  we  have  yet  nothing 
to  show  whether  or  not  he  reached  Colossae  ;  but 
whether  fulfilled  or  not,  the  expectation  of  meeting 
would  tend  to  secure  compliance  with  his  request, 
and  would  be  all  the  more  likely  to  do  so,  for  the 
very  delicacy  with  which  it  is  stated,  so  as  not  to 
seem  to  be  mentioned  for  the  sake  of  adding  force 
to  his  intercession. 


rhilem.  20-2S.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON,  489 

The  limits  of  Paul's  expectation  as  to  the  power 
of  his  brethren's  prayers  for  temporal  blessings  are 
worth  noting.  He  does  believe  that  these  good 
people  in  Colossae  could  help  him  by  prayer  for  his 
liberation,  but  he  does  not  believe  that  their  prayer 
will  certainly  be  heard.  In  some  circles  much  is 
said  now  about  "  the  prayer  of  faith  " — a  phrase 
which,  singularly  enough,  is  in  such  cases  almost 
confined  to  prayers  for  external  blessings, — and 
about  its  power  to  bring  money  for  work  which  the 
person  praying  believes  to  be  desirable,  or  to  send 
away  diseases.  But  surely  there  can  be  no  "  faith  " 
without  a  definite  Divine  word  to  lay  hold  of.  Faith 
and  God's  promise  are  correlative  ;  and  unless  a 
man  has  God's  plain  promise  that  A.  B.  will  be  cured 
by  his  prayer,  the  belief  that  he  will  is  not  faith,  but 
something  deserving  a  much  less  noble  name.  The 
prayer  of  faith  is  not  forcing  our  wills  on  God,  but 
bending  our  wills  to  God's.  The  prayer  which  Christ 
has  taught  in  regard  to  all  outward  things  is,  "  Not 
my  will  but  Thine  be  done,"  and,  "  May  Thy  will 
become  mine."  That  is  the  prayer  of  faith,  which 
is  always  answered.  The  Church  prayed  for  Peter, 
and  he  was  delivered  ;  the  Church,  no  doubt,  prayed 
for  Stephen,  and  he  was  stoned.  Was  then  the 
prayer  for  him  refused  t  Not  so,  but  if  it  were 
prayer  at  all,  the  inmost  meaning  of  it  was  "be  it 
as  Thou  wilt " ;  and  that  was  accepted  and  an- 
swered. Petitions  for  outward  blessings,  whether  for 
the  petitioner  or  for  others,  are  to  be  presented  with 
submission  ;  and  the  highest  confidence  which  can 
be  entertained  concerning  them  is  that  which  Paul 
here  expresses  :  "  I  hope  that  through  your  prayers 
I  shall  be  set  free." 


490  THE  EPISTLE  TO  PHILEMON. 

The  prospect  of  meeting  enhances  the  force  of 
the  Apostle's  wish ;  nor  are  Christians  without  an 
analogous  motive  to  give  weight  to  their  obligations 
to  their  Lord.  Just  as  Paul  quickened  Philemon's 
loving  wish  to  serve  him  by  the  thought  that  he 
might  have  the  gladness  of  seeing  him  before  long, 
so  Christ  quickens  His  servant's  diligence  by  the 
thought  that  before  very  many  days  He  will  come, 
or  they  will  go — at  any  rate,  they  will  be  with 
Him, — and  He  will  see  what  they  have  been  doing 
in  His  absence.  Such  a  prospect  should  increase 
diligence,  and  should  not  inspire  terror.  It  is  a 
mark  of  true  Christians  that  they  "  love  His  appear- 
ing." Their  hearts  should  glow  at  the  hope  of 
meeting.  That  hope  should  make  work  happier 
and  lighter.  When  a  husband  has  been  away  at  sea, 
the  prospect  of  his  return  makes  the  wife  sing  at 
her  work,  and  take  more  pains  or  rather  pleasure 
with  it,  because  his  eye  is  to  see  it.  So  should  it  be 
with  the  bride  in  the  prospect  of  her  bridegroom's 
return.  The  Church  should  not  be  driven  to  un- 
welcome duties  by  the  fear  of  a  strict  judgment, 
but  drawn  to  large,  cheerful  service,  by  the  hope 
of  spreading  her  work  before  her  returning  Lord. 

Thus,  on  the  whole,  in  this  letter,  the  central 
springs  of  Christian  service  are  touched,  and  the 
motives  used  to  sway  Philemon  are  the  echo  of  the 
motives  which  Christ  J.ises  to  sway  men.  The  key- 
note of  all  is  love.  CLove  beseeches  when  it  might 
command.  To  love  we  owe  our  own  selves  beside. 
Love  will  do  nothing  without  the  glad  consent  of 
him  to  whom  it  speaks,  and  cares  for  no  service 
which  is  of  necessity.  Its  finest  wine  is  not  made 
from  juice  which  is  pressed  out  of  the  grapes,  but 


Philem.  20-2S.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  491 

from  that  which  flows  from  them  for  very  ripeness. 
Love  identifies  itself  with  those  who  need  its  help, 
and  treats  kindnesses  to  them  as  done  to  itself. 
Love  finds  joy  and  heart  solace  in  willing,  though 
it  be  imperfect,  service.  Love  expects  more  than 
it  asks.  Love  hopes  for  reunion,  and  by  the  hope 
makes  its  wish  more  weighty.  These  are  the  points 
of  Paul's  pleading  with  Philemon.  Are  they  not 
the  elements  of  Christ's  pleading  with  His  friends  p 

(He  too  prefers  the  tone  of  friendship  to  that  of 
authority.  To  Him  His  servants  owe  themselves, 
and  remain  for  ever  in  His  debt,  after  all  payment 
of  reverence  and  thankful  self-surrender.  He  does 
not  count  constrained  service  as  service  at  all,  and 
has  only  volunteers  in  His  army.  He  makes  Him- 
self one  with  the  needy,  and  counts  kindness  to  the 
least  as  done  to  Him.  He  binds  Himself  to  repay 
and  overpay  all  sacrifice  in  His  service.  He  finds 
delight  in  His  people's  work.  He  asks  them  to 
prepare  an  abode  for  Him  in  their  own  hearts,  and 
in  souls  opened  by  their  agency  for  His  entrance. 
He  has  gone  to  prepare  a  mansion  for  them,  and 
He  comes  to  receive  account  of  their  obedience 
and  to  crown  their  poor  deeds.  It  is  impossible  to 
suppose  that  Paul's  pleading  for  Philemon  failed. 
How  much  less  powerful  is  Christ's,  even  with  those 
who  love  Him  best  ?  j 

IV.  The  parting  greetings  may  be  very  briefly 
considered,  for  much  that  would  have  naturally  been 
said  about  them  has  already  presented  itself  in 
dealing  with  the  similar  salutations  in  the  epistle 
to  Colossse.  The  same  people  send  messages  here 
as  there ;  only  Jesus  called  Justus  being  omitted, 
probably  for  no  other  reason  than  because  he  was 


492  THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON. 

not  at  hand  at  the  moment.  Epaphras  is  naturally 
mentioned  singly,  as  being  a  Colossian,  and  there- 
fore more  closely  connected  with  Philemon  than 
were  the  others.  After  him  come  the  two  Jews  and 
the  two  Gentiles,  as  in  Colossians. 

The  parting  benediction  ends  the  letter.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  epistle  Paul  invoked  grace  upon  the 
household  "from  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  Now  he  conceives  of  it  as  Christ's 
gift.  In  him  all  the  stooping,  bestowing  love  of 
God  is  gathered,  that  from  Him  it  may  be  poured 
on  the  world.  That  grace  is  not  diffused  like 
stellar  light,  through  some  nebulous  heaven,  but 
concentrated  in  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  who  is  the 
light  of  men.  That  fire  is  piled  on  a  hearth  that, 
from  it,  warmth  may  ray  out  to  all  that  are  in  the 
house. 

That  grace  has  man's  spirit  for  the  field  of  its 
highest  operation.  Thither  it  can  enter,  and  there 
it  can  abide,  in  union  more  close  and  communion 
more  real  and  blessed  than  aught  else  can  attain. 
The  spirit  which  has  the  grace  of  Christ  with  it  can 
never  be  utterly  solitary  or  desolate. 

The  grace  of  Christ  is  the  best  bond  of  family 
life.  Here  it  is  prayed  for  on  behalf  of  all  the 
group,  the  husband,  wife,  child,  and  the  friends  in 
their  home- Church.  Like  grains  of  sweet  incense 
cast  on  an  altar  flame,  and  making  fragrant  what 
Avas  already  holy,  that  grace  sprinkled  on  the  house- 
hold fire  will  give  it  an  odour  of  a  sweet  smell, 
grateful  to  men  and  acceptable  to  God. 

Uhat  wish  is  the  purest  expression  of  Christian 
friendship,  of  which  the  whole  letter  is  so  exquisite 
an   example.     Written  as   it  is   about    a    common. 


Philem.  20-25.]     THE  EPISTLE   TO  PHILEMON.  493 

every-day  matter,  which  could  have  been  settled 
without  a  single  religious  reference,  it  is  saturated 
with  Christian  thought  and  feeling.  So  it  becomes 
an  example  of  how  to  blend  Christian  sentiment 
with  ordinary  affairs,  and  to  carry  a  Christian 
atmosphere  everywhere.  Friendship  and  social  in- 
tercourse will  be  all  the  nobler  and  happier,  if 
pervaded  by  such  a  tone.  Such  words  as  these 
closing  ones  would  be  a  sad  contrast  to  much  of  the 
intercourse  of  professedly  Christian  men.  But  every 
Christian  ought  by  his  life  to  be,  as  it  were,  floating 
the  grace  of  God  to  others  sinking  for  want  of  it  to 
lay  hold  of,  and  all  his  speech  should  be  of  a  piece 
with  this  benediction. 

A  Christian's  life  should  be  "  an  epistle  of 
Christ "  written  with  His  own  hand,  wherein  dim 
eyes  might  read  the  transcript  of  His  own  gra- 
cious love,  and  through  all  his  words  and  deeds 
should  shine  the  image  of  his  Master,  even  as  it 
does  through  the  delicate  tendernesses  and  gracious 
pleadings  of  this  pure  pearl  of  a  letter,  which  the 
slave,  become  a  brother,  bore  to  the  responsive  hearts 
in  quiet  Colossae.N 


(\i  V 


